Eric's Ghosts
by notdoneatforty
Summary: Sequel to Eric's Demons. Sookie's powers grow as she and Eric hunt the conspirators, but what will happen to their love as she becomes his equal. Contains strong language, violence and citrus flavouring. Continued in Eric's Revenge
1. Chapter 1

Eric's Ghosts

Chapter One

Malcolm Moore stood in front of the marble gate, panting and wounded. Blood flowed freely from a deep cut in his shoulder where one of the vampire guards had caught him with a sword. It didn't matter now, his pain was not significant. Stepping over the dead vampire guards at his feet Malcolm pressed his hand to the latch and spoke the latin enchantment he had been forced to memorize.

There was smell like the latrines of hell as the prisoners behind the gate came out to greet their accomplice.

* * *

Alone on the porch of a colonial mansion, Sookie Stackhouse watched the pale sunlight as it crept over the trees, sweeping away the night. The seat beside her was still warm where her lover Eric Northman had been only moments before. She snuggled into the blanket they had shared, knowing that this would probably be as close as she would ever get to sharing the sunrise with her vampire.

Sookie was a traditional girl next door kind of beautiful. She had grown her naturally blonde hair longer during the month or so since she had left the hospital, because Eric had told her he liked the way it framed her face. When she smiled she would light up the room, or the heart of the mean old vampire sheriff who had forsaken all others for her. At one time she had been unsure of her feelings for the viking, but now she knew she loved him as he loved her. Sookie was happy, fate had been good to her when it had given her a thousand year old vampire.

For a while during her recovery she had quizzed him, she wanted to know everything that he did about the Nephilim. But through time they had stopped dwelling on the recent past, started planing a future. Sookie wanted to see the places he had seen, feel the things that he had felt. She knew her man had a world of experience that she could only imagine, and she wanted her own life to be as rich as his. She had met his first true love, Nula, and could only hope that one day the love she and Eric had would match the passion they had shared so long ago.

Passion was something there was no shortage of. Eric was a skilled lover, engaging her emotionally while challenging her physically. He could kiss her to make her heart melt, he could touch her to make her nerves tingle, he could growl to make her socks pop off. Smiling, nursing the cooling coffee cup she thought about the night they had just shared, out here under the stars. Parts of her hurt with a delicious throbbing pain, but she would be ready for him again tonight when he awoke.

Sookie hoped it would always be this way.

When the sun was fully up she got up with a sigh, went inside. After a shower she would walk to town to shop for groceries, maybe have another look in the new clothes shop. Over the last few weeks Sookie had become their best customer for underwear, had shared an embarrassed laugh with the owner when she admitted that she rarely got to wash anything because of Eric. Even now he could never wait for her to take the pretty stuff off.

Town was quiet this morning. Sookie had passed very few cars on the road in, and even fewer people. The good folk would be at work, the bad folk would be sleeping, she thought. Lost in her own little world she completed her chores, before indulging her craving for ice cream. After a while she made her journey home, climbed into bed and slept the rest of the day away. When she woke tonight it would be dark, and he would be here waiting for her. There was a peaceful smile on her pretty face as she drifted off to sleep.

_Her feet were cold and wet on tarmac. She knew this was a dream, there had been no rain for weeks, and the buildings around her were strange. This was not a place she had been before. It was dark, and the street was deserted._

_Sookie felt fear. Someone was looking for her, chasing her. She knew she needed to run but she couldn't decide which way to turn. She was frightened to look behind her in case she saw them. With no idea who they might be Sookie started to run. All the while she screamed for Eric, but he never came._

"I'm here," he soothed her brow, waking her from the nightmare.

Opening her eyes, still confused as she was pulled from the dream, she saw him looking down at her. Eric's handsome face was creased with worry.

"You dreamed?" he asked.

"Someone was chasing me, in a city. It was raining and my feet were bare. I called you but you didn't come," she blurted out.

"But I did, I'm here," he told her, holding her sweat soaked body firmly to him.

His strong presence swept away her fear. Sookie held tight to the magnificent example of man flesh that was Eric Northman. Finally she had to let go.

"I need to shower," she told him.

"Need a hand?" he asked.

"No, my love, I need to wash," she laughed.

When she returned Eric was waiting for her on the bed, his tall muscular body was naked, and she suspected lightly oiled to make it look like that. One problem Eric did not have was modesty. Her eyes took in the strong broad shoulders, the pronounced chest muscles and ripped abs. Then settled on the glorious plenty, awake and waiting for her.

"Is that for me?" she teased as she crossed the space from door to bed, and sat beside him on the quilt.

Eric aroused was still a breathtaking sight, no matter how often she saw it. He was just, well incredible Sookie thought as she tried to take her eyes away from it. It was a chore to look back to her lover's face, especially when she knew he would be wearing that smug smile.

She moved to stand beside him, leaning over him she pressed her hands against his chest as her lips sought his. Her man could kiss, Sookie felt his hunger as he sought her lips and her tongue while his hand ran up her thigh to caress her through he cotton panties. Against the silk nightie her breasts swung over his chest. Eric reached up with his other hand to cup the firm flesh with his other hand, working the silk against the straining nipple beneath.

Sookie felt her underwear give as Eric tore it out of the way, his fingers starting at the back of her entrance, moving forward along he swollen flesh, before delving into her moist opening. As his fingers moved in and out of her she bucked and twisted, riding his hand while he squeezed her nipple with his other hand. Her mouth still pressed against his she lifted her leg up over him to straddle him. With his arousal pressed against her ass she leaned over him, her breasts swung forward over his face. He sought her nipple with his mouth, teasing her against the silk, while below her his other hand had found her nerve center. His incredibly soft touch sent gently increasing waves of pleasure through her as he brought her to her first climax. Sookie moaned as Eric chewed her lip, before writhing back on him. For a moment she held herself above his bulging head before descending slowly onto him, feeling her insides stretch as she tried to take him all.

Slowly she started to move on him, grinding against him as she worked herself up and down on him. He had both breasts in his hands, squeezing the nipples, sending a wave of pleasure to her nerve center as she rode on top of him. Below her Eric's hips were moving slowly, pushing against her as moved on him. Their pace increased as both felt the pressure growing, until they were fucking frantically towards climax. When it came it took Sookie's breath away, left her flushed and trembling as she draped herself over Eric, still clenching him tightly inside her. He licked her blood from his lips and leaned back into the bed.

Some time after midnight they arrived at the club. Not too many of their regulars had ventured out tonight, and the staff looked thoroughly bored. Pam was waiting for Eric at the front door.

"There's a stranger inside, wants to see you," she told him.

"Name?" he asked.

"Probably, but he didn't confide," Pam said.

Over at the bar Eric saw the visitor, a tall well built man in what must be a bespoke suit. On his feet were cowboy boots. Eric thought he liked the visitor already.

"Eric!" the man called as he turned and saw the big viking in the doorway.

"And you are?" Eric asked as he approached.

The visitor was a swarthy skinned man, incredibly good looking, with long black hair. Eric could see he was a vampire, but he was sure he had never met this man before.

"Victor Williams," he introduced himself in a clipped English accent.

"Eric Northman, but you knew that. What can I do for you?" Eric wanted to know.

"We need to talk,my friend, somewhere private," he was told.

Back in the office with the door shut Victor eyed Sookie over once before he began to tell Eric the reason for his visit

"I bear a message from my master in London, Eric. We would really like your help with a problem we've been having," he said.

"What kind of problem? If it's Nephilim they're gone, we dealt with them when they got here," Eric informed him.

"It kind of has to do with them. We need to find out who the secret society that killed our guards and helped let them out are," Victor said.

"Surely you can deal with that yourselves, why do you need me?" Eric wanted to know.

"Because they opened all of our other prisons too!"


	2. Chapter 2

Eric's Ghosts

Chapter Two

Rain pelted the car as they arrived at the grand country estate near York. Eric seemed bored by the journey, but Sookie was excited by every new thing she saw. She had never been this far away from home, and was glad she was sharing the trip with Eric.

Automatic gates opened as the black Mercedes approached, allowing them access to the grand driveway that ran for half a mile through neatly sculpted gardens to the massive period residence. The grounds were well lit, and Sookie noticed with interest that it was well guarded too. The car pulled up at the bottom of a stone stairway that led up to the front door.

"This is grander than anything I ever saw before," she told Eric.

"I was here when they built it," he told her.

Sookie hated when he did that, all aloof and knowing. Still he hadn't meant anything by it she was sure.

A tall man in a dark suit, broad shoulders and slim hips, was waiting for them. His smile was warm and welcoming as he held out a hand to help Sookie from the car. She knew Victor Williams from their meeting in Fangtasia.

_Eric has taste, very nice._

Picking up the surface thought she smiled her sweetest smile at him, showing off her new perfect teeth. Behind her Eric pressed a hand to her back as he guided her up the steps and into the house.

The front door opened onto a wide airy passage, with bright tiled floor and pale wood paneled walls. Victor took them to the first door on the right, holding it open for them. The room inside was brightly lit with plush red carpet underfoot and expensive looking textured red and gold wallpaper. Four men were seated around a table inside, rising as she and Eric entered the room.

Eric seemed to know all of them, greeting them in turn with clasped arms and even a hug for one. Behind him Sookie could read one emotion from all of them.

Fear.

"Glad you could come, War Chief," the oldest looking of the quartet said. He was a middle aged man, hair graying and receding from his temple.

"Victor told me enough to know it was important," he answered. "Guess you should fill me in on the details."

"Of course, but..." he looked at Sookie.

"My human," Eric put a hand out to her to draw her forward, "stays right here."

"Whatever, you know best Northman," he looked as if he wasn't so sure.

_Why the bloodbag? He knows this is vampire business._

Sookie tried not to look offended, not wanting to let them know about her secret. Eric took a seat at the table, feeling Sookie move to stand behind him, her hand resting lightly on his shoulder.

"Victor tells me that the Nephilim are defeated."

"Properly this time, thanks to Sookie here. My warriors have all crossed over. I am the last from that time," Eric told them. "Tell me, what happened that they escaped from your bonds in the first place."

The man sighed, as the others with him fidgeted nervously under the sheriff's questioning gaze.

"They had help from the outside. Do you remember a society that was active when you lived here, the Brotherhood of Light?" he asked.

"I do, we suppressed them, brutally as I recall. That must be four hundred years ago," Eric told him.

"Well it looks like they have returned, for we suspect it was they who killed the guards who watched Satarel and Turel, and later the others. During the anarchy that followed they have released every being we held. Many of our finest vampires are dead. My brothers tell me the story is the same all across Europe.

"Eric you were pivotal in establishing the prisons in the first place, it was you who filled many of them during the purge that followed the fall of the Nephilim. You are perhaps the last of us who understands what danger we face now.

"For that reason we ask you to come back to Europe, fulfill your ancient promise to return to us in time of need. You were a hero to our kind once, we need you to be one again."

Eric looked at the men around the table for a long moment before he answered.

"I remember the promise we made when we left for the New World and I will honor it, but I will need to recruit from among your ranks when the time comes."

* * *

Victor was waiting for them when the meeting ended. In silence he guided them to the first floor suite of rooms, where there bags already awaited them. Aware that Eric had not discussed anything that had been said in front of Victor she waited for him to leave before she spoke.

"What are they all so afraid of?" she wanted to know.

"Sookie when we made those prisons there was worse than the Nephilim who posed a threat to our kind. For a while my purpose was to hunt down every enemy. Most of them were slain, but some creatures are immortal or simply can not be killed. These we captured, locking them away for all time."

"So what went wrong?" he asked.

"Betrayal. The Brotherhood of Light are vampires, who believe that our very existence is wrong, so therefore every thing that we do must be wrong. Ulrich and I led the purge, slaughtering many of our kind to suppress them. Strange to see the Brotherhood pop up again. It would appear that the families were betrayed by the enemy within.

"Your gifts will be very useful here, Sookie."

"I suppose my life might be in danger again too?" she laughed.

"Sookie you are among vampires, your life is always in danger."

"Who were those men, the ones we met tonight?" she wanted to know.

"They are the Council, heads of the four strongest families in Europe. Tonight Sookie you were among the vampires of legend, some of the greatest of our kind," he told her.

"But Eric they were afraid," she told him.

Standing on the grass lawn, just outside the reach of the lights, Malcolm Moore watched intently as Eric Northman and his pretty blonde companion arrived in the big black Mercedes. He saw them go into the house where earlier he had seen the Council arrive one at a time. Malcolm knew who they were, he had served them in a previous incarnation.

His face lit up with delight as he realized that all of their enemies wee gathered under one roof. With a nod he signaled that the horde gathered behind him on the grass should advance on the house.

* * *

"Eric, there's something out there," she told him. "I can feel it."

At once Eric was on his feet, from the largest of the bags he drew the huge wicked sword he had used to kill dozens of the nephilim. Sookie thought he looked magnificent as he charged from the room, running to meet the danger headlong. Behind him she followed, knowing that he would need her to keep him out of danger.


	3. Chapter 3

Eric's Ghosts

Chapter Three

Like the wind from a thousand crypts the foetid stench of rotting flesh blew in their faces on the wind as they ran out to face the attack. Sookie was two steps behind Eric, no fear or thought for her own safety, only her viking lover's well being was important. In a line along the manicured lawn a dozen vampire guards formed a line between the coming attack and the mansion, every one of them armed with machine pistol and samurai sword. At their center Eric took his place, Sookie with him. He would lead this battle and they would follow.

Seeing the way they looked at her viking she wondered had they followed him before, but there was no time to ask as out of the darkness came the baying howling demon spawn who's breath was the evil stench they were breathing.

"Devil dogs," Eric told the others. As one man they holstered the machine pistols, prepared to meet the rushing monstrosities with both hands firmly on blades. Sookie had no idea what they faced, but she bit down her fear and stood with her vampire as she heard the slavering howling rush come straight at them. In her mind the doors were open.

Like a vision created by some insane demon, painted in reds and purples, they came. Sookie supposed that whatever had created a creature such as this had once seen a dog, a big one, and had tried to make one from extra teeth and raw pus filled sores. They ran like dogs, and had massive powerful dog heads, but there were too many teeth, and for fur there were wild tufts which did nothing to cover the purple red and black flesh beneath.

Eric charged forward to meet them, his wild wordless battle cry torn from his throat as he dodged the bite and cleaved the animal's head in two. All along the line the guards performed the same action, leaving a line of the dead animals at their feet. Dozens more charged in from behind, biting at their fallen brothers when they couldn't reach one of the defenders.

A snarling maw of serrated teeth descended at Eric's head as he ran another of the foul hell spawn through the heart with his fearsome blade. Without understanding what she did, Sookie plucked the thing's tiny evil brain from it's thick skull, shoved it back in upside down. It collapsed in a twitching brain dead heap at Eric's feet as he shot her a look of thanks. Behind her she was aware of the venerable vampires as they took to the air, none waiting to see what the outcome of this fight would be.

A stench that dwarfed the smell of the things' breath filled the air as they were gutted and died. But there were so many of them, still coming out of the dark, and already three of the defenders were on the ground. Sookie reached out as far as her telepathic range would allow, twisting the brains of any of the creatures that got close enough. Half a dozen of the things were down by her metaphysical hand before Eric, having run out of opponents, charged into the thick of the nearest fight.

In the dark, out of sight of the defenders, the animals' handler watched with interest as the big warrior with the two handed sword and his tiny female companion crossed the field, leaving a trail of dead foes behind them.

Battle raged along the hastily drawn line. One defender was beheaded with a single bite, his blade snapping in the devil dog's powerful jaws, another was disemboweled as claws like razors ripped him open from throat to genitals. Five defenders down, Sookie wondered if she would ever see Eric take part in a fight he had any chance of winning. He twirled in the air, bringing the blade down point first through the skull of the nearest dog, pinning the thing's head to the ground until he wedged a foot against the skull to free the blade.

The attack had lost it's momentum, less than a dozen of the dog like monstrosities now faced seven vampires and Eric. And Sookie. Out in the darkness they all heard a sound like a massive horn blowing, heralding the approach of something even more nasty than the things they had just fought with.

Sookie snapped the spine of the animal nearest to Eric, gave a satisfied smile when it flew into the air howling with pain before he drove the blade through it's heart. To their left two vampires sank their blades into one of the largest monsters, both finding the heart.

"My kill," they both claimed together.

With a flourish Sookie felled another of the beasts while Eric dispatched one of his own. Suddenly the fighting was over. Seven vampires still stood to fight alongside Eric and Sookie.

They would be given no chance to regroup, because the next foe, the owners of the devil dogs, were coming. Like thunder their massive feet boomed in the otherwise still night as six of the tallest ugliest men Sookie had even seen charged in after their pets.

"Firbolg," Eric warned the others. The new enemy was over twelve feet tall, a massive muscled giant, each armed with a different weapon. Sookie noted how the frontal lobe extended over their eyes, the lower jaw protruded beyond the nose. She knew no fear as they rushed her and her companions.

The vampires took to the air to fly in at the new enemy, Eric once again at their lead. Fending off the massive blow from the thing's axe, hard enough to make his shoulders numb, Eric claimed it's head with one sweeping clean cut. Around him the others tried the same tactic with varying success, as two of them were plucked from the air in mid flight, and slammed head first at the ground. Sookie fought the urge to vomit as their heads exploded with the impact, spraying the combatants with blood and brain tissue.

Five vampires remained to face the four remaining firbolg with Eric. Where they could they doubled up on the monsters, rushing in at speed that couldn't be seen. Two vampires acting together hamstrung their foe, although one perished in the counter strike which was more intuition than skill. Eric had his opponent's throat out in a spray of bright red blood when he caught the thing with the tip of his sword. Not to be outdone Sookie, growing in her power, picked another up by the skull, before slamming him headlong at the ground in an act that mirrored the firbolg tactic. Another of the vampires fell, his skull crushed by a club that was bigger than most tree trunks, before the guard he had been working with was merely trampled and crushed into the ground.

Together the two remaining vampires, and Eric circled the remaining enemy before they all charged in at once, cutting the thing down. In the darkness the animal's handler fled, leaving his last charge to die alone at the hands of Eric Northman.

"There's something wrong, Eric," Sookie told him.

He was panting, soaked in foul blood, and grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I can see the spirits of the dead things all around us. They are confused, but they all want back into the bodies they were torn from. You'll be fighting zombies in a minute!"

"Sookie, do something. There aren't enough of us to fight them again!" he told her.

"Like what?" she asked.

"Sookie, something, I can see some of them trying to get up," Eric told her.

"Imprisoned or dead?" she asked.

"I don't care, just do something now or we're all dead!"

She looked around her, she could see some of the dog things, and their owners, trying to get up again. Some had hideous injuries and lay on the ground twitching and in agony, but as many were almost back on their feet.

She found a familiar door inside her head, flung it wide open.

In the dark she could feel rather than see the thing that had brought them here as it made it's escape. She tried to tell Eric, but so many of the creatures were back up, pressing their undead attack again. With a scream of agony, her body almost torn apart by the energy she unleashed, Sookie sent all the souls to the valley, where they could join the Nephilim. Eric rushed to her when he saw her collapse lifeless on the grass.


	4. Chapter 4

Eric's Ghosts

Chapter Four

Victor looked concerned as he watched Eric carry Sookie into the house.

"Will she be okay?" he asked.

"Not sure, she's never done that before," Eric admitted.

"I'm fine," she said, "starting to come to. Just might have overstretched myself that time."

"Sookie, for a moment there I thought I'd lost you," Eric confessed.

"Never, viking," she told him, "Who'd look after you?"

"Look after me?" he grinned, "I don't remember anyone carrying me off the lawn."

"You don't remember, memory must be going then at your age," she teased.

"What now, Eric?" Victor asked.

"Now you get whatever people you have left here to clean up that mess outside, then close this house up. They'll be back, better they don't find anyone here," Eric told him.

"What about you, what will you do now?" Victor pressed him.

"We three are leaving too, you need to show me some things," Eric said.

In a little while the car was waiting for them at the front of the house. Sookie had no idea where Victor had gotten so much help from, but more than a dozen vampires were piling the corpses together on the lawn. She watched the grisly sight through the back window of the car as it took them off the estate.

"Where to?"

"Get us to a safe house for now, there's not enough of this night remaining. Tomorrow we go to the prison in town, see if we can start to unravel this mess from there," Eric told him.

"I'll see you get there, then I have duties to attend," Victor said.

"Not any more Williams, you stay with me from now until I don't need you further. It's been a long time since I was here, I'll need a guide and a go between. Your masters will understand."

The safe house was a little brick built mid terrace kitchen house. It was cold inside, and the rooms felt damp. Sookie made her way upstairs to one of two bedrooms, while Eric and Victor went to the recently excavated basement. At dark they had to waken her.

"Do you need more rest?" Eric asked, concerned at how tired she still looked.

"No, I need food, a shower, and later I'll want some time alone with you!"

Eric grinned at her, kissed her tenderly on the mouth, before leaving her to get ready.

"You love that human?" Victor asked.

"I'd die for her," Eric agreed.

"You might just," Victor laughed. "She looks like trouble."

It was raining again, cold rain that stung Sookie's cheeks. She wondered if either of her companions were troubled by it in the way that she was. Without a word they crossed the short distance to the cemetery.

On a night such as this there were no people about, to see the trio scale the gate. Inside Sookie was at first shocked at the change of atmosphere.

"Can you feel that?" she asked, seeing her companions both nod.

"It's like every soul here is waiting for something," she said.

None of the sounds from outside the cemetery wall could be heard inside. In here there were no cars, no people walking or talking, as if the stone wall around the perimeter closed out every trace of the living. Sookie felt a growing disquiet, she wasn't afraid of graveyards, but there was something really wrong with this one.

Victor took the lead, making his way down the flagged path to a crypt at the heart of the place. In the dark it was little more than a black shape against the night sky, but Sookie's feeling of dread grew with every step closer to it. They were at the steps before she could clearly see the marble doors, a faint inscription she couldn't read carved into the stone above them.

"Should this be lying open like this?" she asked.

"No," Eric told her, "these doors are the prison doors.

"What was here?" she asked. "It's as if a great evil lurks, can you feel it?"

"I feel it. The hounds and the firbolg were held here, along with a few others. This prison has been here a very long time, it feels like the evil has permeated the whole cemetery," Eric told them.

"Is it likely there's anything left in there?" Victor asked.

Sookie looked at him and shook her head. She'd decided she didn't like it when the vampires were afraid.

"I can't sense anything in there," she informed them, "but we better go look."

Nodding Eric pushed the marble door open, stepped into the gloom inside. At his heel Sookie walked in, out of the rain. Her eyes took a minute to adjust to the gloom.

"It's tiny," she said, "how did they all fit?"

"There's a door in the floor, this is just like an antechamber, where the guards would have been," he was looking at a dark stain on the floor.

"Someone they trusted betrayed them to get in here and kill them," he told them.

Seeing the stain Sookie shuddered, evidence of yet another death.

"Do you know how to open the other door?" Victor asked.

"Should do, it was me that sealed it!"

Sookie felt a whoosh of power as Eric spoke the latin phrase that opened the door. It swung up, revealing a flight of stone stairs that led steeply into the darkness below. There was a smell of damp

and decay in the air that escaped.

"Tell me we're not going down there," she said.

Eric nodded.

"We need to find out if everything got out of here, there's a few nasties I'd like to hope are still here."

"Why would they still be here?" Sookie asked, finding it was her turn to feel fear.

"Because I'm hoping that whoever opened it left them here before they resealed it. This door was locked again," Eric told her.

"Then why don't you just leave it locked?" Sookie demanded.

"I have to know," he told her.

Quietly he led them down the steep stone stairs, holding a hand out to guide Sookie when they found the stairs were damp at the bottom. Behind them came Victor. Sookie had read nothing but fear from his surface thoughts, she thought he might be a liability to them if they did meet anything unpleasant. With that thought she began opening doors in her head, just in case.

At the bottom of the stairs the stone floor was slimy and damp. Sookie stood close to Eric, allowing her eyes to adjust to the deeper gloom.

"You lot like your cliches," she observed.

"Made sense back then, at the time when we put this here the locals were frightened of graves, and we made sure they stayed frightened of this one, I imagine," Eric told her.

"Now Eric that's just wrong, you don't have to sound so pleased when you say something like that," she scolded.

"It's in my blood," he told her.

They were at the end of a sloping passage that stank of decay and death. The damp was in the walls, the floor, even dripping from the ceiling. Sookie had noticed that the air was weak down here, although she noted that her companions didn't seem worried about that either.

"Eric the air is bad in here," she said.

"Sookie lets hope its not the only thing that's bad in here," Eric said.

"You want whatever else you locked in here to still be here?" she questioned him.

"Better than it being lose out there, I'm hoping we're dealing with bastards, but not mad bastards!"

"But surely we're in danger then?" Victor asked.

"Of course we are, I nearly get Sookie killed all the time, you're just new to this," Eric laughed.

"I think something's listening to us," Sookie told them.

"Can you feel it?" Eric asked.

She nodded, trembling involuntarily with fear.

"It's ahead, but Eric it's evil, worst I've felt. And it's hungry."

"Now who's reaching for the cliches?" he laughed, freeing his massive blade from the scabbard he wore over his shoulder.

"We know it's here, can't we just go now?" Victor asked.

"Don't think so," Sookie informed him. "It's coming!"


	5. Chapter 5

Eric's Ghosts

Chapter Five

"Eric, can we go now?" Victor asked, his voice had a slight tremor in it.

Sookie looked over her shoulder at him, she really didn't like it when the vampires were afraid. Whatever was coming would be in sight in just a moment, she could hear its' feet on the damp stone floor. And the smell was worse, much worse.

Only Eric seemed untroubled. He stood feet apart, slowly moving through fencing poses with the massive blade Sookie had seen him use like a toy. She knew what he was doing, he was defying something to come closer.

"Northman, have you come to join me or mock me?"

The voice was like chains blowing in the wind over an open grave. It was at once in the air and in their heads, a faint rasp that carried an ancient threat of casual violence and inhuman evil. Sookie recoiled a step, bumping into Victor as he stood behind her. She could feel him trembling with fear, his panic causing her own anxiety to rise.

"Come on up, Bones, we have unfinished business," Eric commanded.

Behind him Sookie hoped that whatever was approaching would chose not to face them. But she could hear it moving again, in a moment she would see what so terrified the vampire behind her.

"Be ready, Sookie," Eric warned her.

Ready for what she thought? I'm scared, and I don't know what of.

Then she saw it, a pale white skull with red glowing eye sockets. It sat on a body that must be more bone than decayed flesh, wrapped in robes that might once have been ermine. In one hand it held a sword the match of Eric's, in the other an ivory rod. Sookie felt a blast of hatred from the thing as if it was a physical force.

She'd expected it to move slowly or awkwardly, but it darted forward with the kind of agility and grace she was used to seeing from Eric. Only when it was close enough to Eric to strike him with the sword could Sookie see the fine gold circlet that it wore around the shiny skull.

"Northman, have your own kind finally thrown you in here with me?" it rasped.

"I've come to finish you Bones," Eric told it.

"You have? With a frightened blood sucker and a baby witch, do you mock me?" it asked.

"I'm all I need!" he replied.

"Good, Northman, because your friends are frightened. You don't really mean to put the witch against me? Shall I snuff out her pathetic mortal life now?"

Sookie felt cold fear growing from the base of her spine. Eric was talking to a skeleton.

"You can try, Bones. She is stronger than you think," Eric told the thing.

She felt the barrage start at once, like a child was running through her head trying to close all the doors, and pull out all the plugs. Sookie screamed at the severity of the first assault, and in outrage at the sudden feeling of violation she felt. The thing attacking her felt powerful and wrong at the same time. With a force of will she held the last door open, unleashed a counter attack of her own.

Lich, she read the word from the things mind even as she tried to force her will on his own.

"Pathetic," it told her, still engaging her with it's mind while bringing the massive blade up. Sookie had the feeling that this thing was only playing with her. Hands that were nothing more than bone held together with evil energy swung the blade directly at Eric's head. He parried, casting a look back at Sookie.

"What is it?" asked Victor, safely out of the reach of it's blade, and unaware of the psychic battle that raged within Sookie.

"Lich, they were psychic vampires who carved out their own kingdoms in a time before even I was born. This one was about the baddest bastard they spawned. No way it can continue now that the prisons are compromised," Eric explained while dancing away from the thing, barely parrying a hail of mighty blows that drew sparks from the blades when they met.

"Why didn't you kill it before?" Victor asked.

"Because it's just about as dead as it can get already!" Eric told him, pressing his own attack on the thing.

In her head Sookie felt like the thing was trying to hold her down, it wanted to lick her neck. She felt violated as it pressed it's sickening attack. Digging up a reserve she pushed back at it, trying to force the thing out of her head. It was laughing at her.

"How you doing, Sookie?" Eric asked, seeing how pale she had become.

"It's trying to rape my mind, bastard!" she told him. The thought made her angry, but it was still in her head, laughing at her.

"Fight the fucker!" Eric told her, as he was forced once again to retreat from a onslaught of blows.

"What do you think I'm doing?" she yelled back.

Bones pressed it's attack. On one front it was forcing Eric to back away from it, blade twirling so fast it was impossible to follow. Blood danced on the blade where it had nicked Eric more than a dozen times. On the other, in a battle only Sookie and Bones were aware off, it was trying to hold her down inside her own head.

"Yield you filthy little whore!" it yelled at her, laughing at the feeble attempt to fight it off. "I've been doing this shit for two thousand years, and I'm fed up playing."

With that she felt the assault on her mind increase ten fold. She had a mental picture of the skeleton dragging her to the ground, forcing his …

"No you fucking don't!" she screamed, forcing the thing completely out of her head.

Eric saw it fall back a step, and pressed his attack on it. The lich had stopped laughing. It was fighting desperately to hold Eric's attack back while it regained it's balance. Sookie pushed the viking out of the way to get at it.

"You! How fucking dare you!" she ranted, each word was punctuated by a crack as she broke one of it's ancient dry bones. The lich was trying to get the sword up to slash at the unprotected human. It was Sookie's turn to laugh now. Eric was aghast as he watched her, but he couldn't get between her and the lich. Some force was holding him back, no matter how hard he struggled.

"You know you want some dead man loving," it taunted her as it drove towards her, blade swinging. She stood defiant, refusing to avoid the blade as he tried to decapitate her, In anguish Eric could do nothing but watch. He saw the blade spin in a high arc that was sure to cut Sookie in half, cried out as it met her upraised arm.

And stopped.

"Like I said, how fucking dare you monster?"

Sookie went into it's head, she was sickened by the images of death and depravity that lurked there. She brought her own image, a valley at the end of time full of souls waiting to be judged.

"Go meet your maker!" she commanded it.

There was a whoosh of air drawn into the passage and the thing imploded in a shower of dried bone material and dust.

"What happened, Sookie?" Eric asked, feeling able to move again.

"Do you know how it fights? she demanded.

"Nula told me," he admitted. "She wasn't strong enough to fight it on her own."

"Poor girl, you let me fight that thing knowing what it would try to do?" Sookie asked angrily.

"It was how we overpowered it the first time, Nula was good sport for it. Once it had beaten her it was distracted long enough to bind it. How did you make him release me?" Eric wanted to know.

Sookie was horrified. Eric had expected her to lose, he knew what it would have done to her.

"It wasn't the thing that restrained you, Eric."


	6. Chapter 6

A/N Sorry if I've caused any confusion changing the summary, it just didn't fit any more. Thanks to all of you for staying with me on this, I know they're not in Fangtasia any more! To everyone who has written the kindest reviews you keep me writing, though every time I sit down to write I'm frightened that I'll mess this up.

Eric's Ghosts

Chapter Six

For a moment Sookie couldn't look at Eric.

"You knew," she said very quietly, but her words were loaded with an accusation that hung heavy in the air.

"I guessed, you are so much stronger than Nula. I could only guess and hope, Sookie," Eric told her.

"You knew," she said again. "You let it beat Nula to distract it. Do you understand what that must have done to her, or what it would have done to me. Eric I love you, I'm only here for you, but you would have let that happen so you could finish what you started! I trusted you to protect me as I protected you."

"Sookie, it had to die, it had to! We couldn't risk Bones getting outside again. You know what it was capable of," Eric wasn't used to being on the back foot like this. "We had to beat it!"

"Eric I trusted you," she had tears in her eyes, but when he moved to hold her she pushed him away.

"Would it have mattered if I'd told you? You would still have faced it, even if you'd known, wouldn't you?" he asked.

"I would, but it would have been my choice, not yours."

In silence the trio walked back to the safe house. If Victor had anything to say he wisely kept it to himself. Without a word to either of them Sookie went to shower, knowing that she might never feel clean again after Bones had been inside her head. Eric was waiting for her in the little bedroom, she'd never seen him so forlorn.

"Sookie, I'm sorry, I could have handled that better," he told her.

"You're sorry? So am I Eric, so am I," she sighed.

"I thought, I hoped you could take him, you've already proved you are so much stronger than Nula ever was. And I had another motive," he held out his hand to her, but she still kept back from him.

"Go on, Eric. I'm all ears," she said.

"Nula changed after she faced Bones, for a long time she wouldn't talk about it. I feared that it had broken her, left her damaged in a way that I couldn't fix. It was a long time later that she told me the detail of her fight with him, of what he did to her. Sookie after all this time I wanted revenge, and I knew you could punish him in a way that I could not. You can be sure I would avenge any harm done to you the same way."

This time when he reached for her she went to him, wrapped only in a white towel after her shower.

"I've got a bone to pick with you though, Sookie. When I was held, why did you say it wasn't Bones?" he asked.

"It wasn't, I wanted the bastard all to myself. When he gets to the valley he can tell them that this girl is a one vampire girl," she was smiling for the first time, her eyes had softened.

"Can you do that any time you want?" Eric asked.

"Do you want to piss me off enough to find out?" she laughed.

Sookie noticed that his hands had found their way under the towel.

"Do you ever stop?" she teased.

"Not while I've breath," he laughed.

"But Eric..."

"Oh I know," he laughed again.

His strong hands were on her bottom, his flesh cool against hers. Sookie knew she had come to one of those moments in her life, where the choice she made next would affect or at least color everything in her future. Part of her wanted to push him away, rant at him, then storm out. But part of her wanted to trust him again, to believe he acted as he thought best.

Eric's tongue found her belly as he pushed the towel off her, and Sookie knew the choice was made. As he caressed her ass and back tenderly his mouth traced her naval, her breasts, before traveling south. She gasped with pleasure as he found her entrance, his tongue dipping inside to taste her. Standing over him as she was Sookie looked down on his blonde hair, his perfect face. Would it always be this way with him?

He brought her gently to her first climax, before lifting her onto the bed. Sookie lay on her back, her sex open and soaking for him as he stripped. She loved his broad shoulders, toned chest and stomach, his athletic legs. Even before he dropped his shorts she could see that he liked what he saw too.

Ah Eric, she thought, could I imagine not having you?

Slowly Eric lowered himself onto her, his arms supporting his weight. When he found her entrance he eased himself inside, resting there for a moment before he started to move against her. Sookie felt herself stretched by him, felt an intense mixture of pleasure and pain as he filled her, driving her pleasure center into overtime. Gradually Eric increased his pace, locking his arms around Sookie's shoulders, pulling her breasts tight against his chest as his hips wove magic against hers. There was a closeness, a passion in their fucking tonight that wasn't always there. Feeling her climax building Sookie threw herself against him urging him on to greater heights as her sensation grew. From the way Eric's movements changed Sookie could feel his pressure was growing too.

Rocking together, locked in their embrace, they came. As he exploded inside her Sookie expected to feel his teeth break her skin, to have him feed on her. But instead his lips locked on hers in a kiss that felt like he was trying to reach her soul. Sookie responded as passionately, realizing that she and Eric had done something new.

They had made love. As if stuck together they clung to each other like that until the night was almost gone. It was a wrench when she finally had to let him go.

Only after Eric had gone did she notice the wound on her breast. Well at least he hadn't changed completely.

* * *

When dark came again Sookie was waiting for Eric. Throughout the day the feeling of completeness he had left her with had been eroded by a growing disquiet, an increasing sense of approaching doom. By the time he woke she was almost hysterical. If Eric was bothered by the fact that Victor had left last night he never showed it.

"What is it?" he asked her when he saw how agitated she was. He had expected her to be glowing, as he was, after last night.

"Eric we have to leave, now!" she told him.

"Why?" he asked, stretching his magnificent torso as he stood in front of her.

"Something bad is coming, we have to run now. Before it's too late!" she told him.

"But Sookie, we're safe here," he tried to reassure her.

"Too late," she told him, "they're here."

As the door downstairs came crashing in Eric saw the look of fear in Sookie's face, and wondered what she had felt approaching.


	7. Chapter 7

Eric's Ghosts

Chapter Seven

The front door exploded into kindling. Sookie could feel them rushing into the house, searching the downstairs rooms.

"Eric, what do we do?" she asked, unable to hide the fear in her voice.

"We fight, Victor's down there somewhere," he said with a look of grim determination on his face.

"Where's your sword then?" Sookie asked.

"I'll have to go down and get it," he flashed her a grin that made her shudder. "Will you be with me?"

"Where else?" she asked, irritated that he would ask a question like that now.

Eric pulled the door open as the intruders were rushing up the stairs. Behind him Sookie gagged at the smell, like a mixture of cold damp flesh and rotting meat. She could see the first one now as he rushed up to meet Eric. Tall as a man it ran with legs bent like a dog. It had pale white skin stretched thin over it's skull and a torso that was almost translucent. The upper body was taut and wiry. Sookie was both fascinated and repelled by the thing's face, it had the eyes of a man but the mouth and nose of a dog.

It barked in triumph when it found Eric on the landing waiting, but the bark was cut short as Eric launched himself at the intruder. His powerful arms gripped the thing by the head, twisting skull against neck until there was a very loud snap. Dead before it hit the floor, it never got the chance to defend itself. With a laugh of triumph Eric dived headlong downstairs into the midst of the other attackers.

On the landing the first creature's body had fallen so quickly that it's spirit stood confused, as if not realizing it was dead. Sookie tilted her head thoughtfully as she watched the thing berate the weak flesh that had so easily fallen. From below Sookie could hear Eric's terrible laugh as he fought bare handed with the attackers, but this piteous thing held her attention.

"What manner of thing are you? I sure ain't seen anything like you before," she said.

"Me?" it barked and snarled, but the words were English. "I am ghoul."

"Why did you come here?" Sookie couldn't believe she was talking to the spirit of a dead monster.

"Kill Northman, kill witch," it looked at her and seemed to sniff the air. "Pretty witch, play first?"

Sookie shuddered at the thought of the game this thing might play. The doors in her mind were open, the power was there to unleash, but still she hesitated.

"Who brought you here?" she asked.

Downstairs Eric was using the advantage vampire speed and strength gave him to meet the intruders hand to hand. Even unarmed he was a savage opponent, and the way he laughed as he killed made even the most inhuman attackers waiver. But he didn't want them to break and run, he wanted every one of them dead.

"Malcolm, vampire. Price for release is obedience. We pay it," it told her. Behind him on the stairs a few more of the spirits were gathering.

"This is strange," Sookie thought out loud, "why are the spirits lingering."

"Malcolm holds us, can't pass on," it told her mournfully.

"How does he do that?" she asked.

"Ask him, he behind you," it told her.

"Nephilim bitch," the man behind her cursed as he struck her over the head with something very solid. Sookie saw only darkness.

At the foot of the stairs Eric felt the massive blow that struck Sookie. She was down and badly wounded, but not dead. He had to get to her. But he couldn't simply turn his back on the intruders and run to her, they would rip him to pieces if he did that. Biting into his tongue he tasted his own blood, released himself into the berserk rage that was the legacy of his human ancestry.

Six of the things were dead around him, twenty more had pressed into the house, but the tight confines of the tiny terraced house made it impossible for more than a couple at a time to reach him. Savage strength and fury consumed the viking as he ripped the nearest creature's throat out with his bare hands, stepping through the space it had occupied to grab the next one by the shoulders. Eric slammed his head into the creature's dog like face, smashing nose and teeth, sending the ghoul into a howling frenzy. As it fell away he was on it, grabbing it's bloody lower jaw and ripping it right off the thing's face.

Wielding his macabre weapon he lashed out at the next nearest, the sharp edges ripping the thing's throat open. He spun in the air, kicking the attacker behind him so hard that his foot went through the thing's abdomen, snapped it's spine. Collapsing in a bloody twitching heap the gore that spilled from it's ruined torso made the floor treacherous for the attackers coming from behind. Had Eric been aware he would have counted only seventeen of the ghouls still upright, but he was consumed by rage, and unaware of any such thing.

Trying to use the sheer weight of numbers the things rushed him all at once. Eric plucked a still beating heart from the next one's chest, so massive was the strength of the blow he dealt it. A flurry of claws, kicks and bites were rained on him, drawing blood from a myriad of smaller wounds all over his torso. Eric felt none of them. He had only two thoughts, his raging need to kill, and Sookie. Berserk rage and vampire speed were too much for the ghouls. They wanted to fall back, but something was pressing them on forcing them to face the wrath of Eric Northman.

So many claws had landed blows on Eric that his clothes were all but shredded. He tore away the remnant of the shirt he had been wearing, feeling it soaked in his blood. Pumped up as he was his chest muscles were massive his arms were knots of muscle. Eric's laugh was a sound more terrible than any that came from the monsters attacking him. Lunging into them again he slammed two heads together so hard the skulls burst. Sprayed in a shower of gore he roared his mighty battle roar, pressed his attack on them ever forward. He gripped the next one by the neck, then shook it until he felt the bone snap before dropping it forgotten as he grabbed at the next one.

Four of them rushed forward and jumped him at once. For a moment it seemed they would overpower him. He threw one off so hard it's body broke against the ceiling, then slammed his own body against the wall, crushing the life from another. Across the narrow hall he ran another onto the bannister, impaling it on the end.

They broke and ran, their fear of the massive vengeful viking overcoming the hold that had so far pushed them towards him. Baying like frightened dogs they ran, terrified of the monster that had come among them to slaughter them with bare hands. Terrified of the thousand year old warrior who was Eric Northman.

Not pressing his advantage Eric had only one thought, Sookie needed him. Rushing to the top of the stairs he was there in a heartbeat, but he was too late. The bedroom window was open, she was gone. Eric could feel how weak her pulse was, he knew she was unconscious. He charged back down the stairs to grab the massive wicked blade he had carried into battle for hundreds of years. Victor was at the front door, holding a brown paper bag full of food from a burger bar in one hand, and a milk shake in the other.

"What the hell happened here?" he asked, seeing the destruction in the house and the bodies that were piled in the hall and on the stairs.

"They've got Sookie!" Eric told him.

Victor saw the blood red tears in the viking's eyes.


	8. Chapter 8

Eric's Ghosts

Chapter Eight

Sookie knew she was coming round because she felt the pain in her head. For a moment she panicked because she couldn't feel anything beneath her arms or legs. She feared that the massive blow to the head had left her paralyzed. On opening her eyes she realized that there was nothing under her because she was flying, the ground rushing by below her at an alarming speed. Between the head injury and the sickening speed she thought she would vomit.

Twisting in the grip of her captor she tried to get a better look at him, but he held her rigid, not allowing her to move. Instead she tried to reach him with her mind, but there was nothing there to read. Her panic was growing.

Who or what had taken her away from Eric?

On finding nothing from the mind of the thing that held her she tried to open the doors and reach out for Eric, but the effort made her pass out again.

Later, Sookie was aware of cold earth beneath her. She could sense the daylight coming, something that Eric had taught her to do. Her hands and feet were numb, the bindings around her wrists and ankles were so tight they stopped the circulation, and over her head a cloth bag had been placed, robbing her of even a glimpse of her surroundings. She tried again to reach out with her mind, but again the effort was too much for her. As darkness took her again she was aware of something cold covering her gradually, like a soft damp quilt.

Shit! Sookie woke again with a start, full of panic. The cold damp quilt she had felt before she blacked out was heavy, and smelled of earth. She was still bound at ankle and wrist, but it was the weight pressing down on her that kept her completely immobile. Tears of panic welled again as Sookie realized she had been buried. She tried to reach out with her mind, but she was weak, so weak. Gradually she was becoming aware of throbbing pain in her neck, but she couldn't move to check what was causing it. After a short time she blacked out again.

Drifting back to consciousness this time, Sookie was aware that the weight of soil pressing down on her was gone, as were the ligatures that had bound her. That they had been removed while she was out was a blessing, the pain of returning blood flow would have been unbearable. When she reached around her with her mind this time she was aware of a presence hovering nearby, but it's mind was shut tight to her, like a steel wall had been built around it. She felt nauseous and weak, and the pain in her neck and head throbbed together as the damaged nerve endings pulsed. Her inner sense told her it was dark.

"Awake then bitch?" a rough male voice, the accent foreign to her.

"What have you done to me?" her voice was weak, sounded strange to her own ears inside the cloth bag.

"Drained you, almost. Does it hurt?"

"Drained me? Why didn't you just finish me off then?" her mind was reeling, it explained the pain in her neck, and the fact that she was so weak.

"I don't want you dead, well not quite that dead anyway," he told her, his voice coming closer.

"You won't turn me," Sookie really was panicking now, she loved Eric, but she didn't want to be like him.

And she really had no desire to be turned by anyone else. Eric, and before him Bill, had told her enough to know that she did not want this creature to make her vampire. Sookie fought to move, but her limbs were so weak she couldn't lift them. Her head buzzed with the effort, made her have to fight just to stay conscious. At least now she understood why the bindings were gone, she was weaker than a new born baby.

And still the power stayed out of her reach too, the mental effort created a buzzing noise in her head, together with a floating humming vibration that was felt rather than heard. Unconsciousness took her again.

Instinctively Sookie knew it was another night when she regained her senses. Another day had gone, and still Eric was not here to save her. She wanted to be sick, to cry, to simply die. The hood was gone, but at first her eyes refused to focus. When they did she saw her antagonist standing over her, watching.

Over a fat dry tongue in a mouth that was too small Sookie tried to make words. At first she failed, the spluttering noise frustrating her, making tears come. With a force of will she tried again.

"Why?" she asked.

"A Nephilim plaything, bound to me? Who could turn down such a gift?" he spoke softly, his foreign accent seeming even more pronounced than before.

"I will never be your plaything!" she defied him.

"You'll be begging soon enough."

"No you will, Eric's gonna be so pissed when he finds you," she warned him.

"Eric, he wanted your Nephilim blood for himself, but lacked the strength of will to turn you. I imagine he'll wish he'd hurried up with the job, nothing more," her captor told her.

"He'll stake you out in the sun for this," she told him. "And you are wrong, I'm Fae, not Nephilim."

"Poor child, who told you that lie? You are the last of the Nephilim, even if your blood has the madness of Fae mixed in it. I can taste the blend, quite unique. Delicious."

"I am not, I am Sookie Stackhouse, human with a twist of disabled," she tried to yell, but it was more of a rasp.

"It matters little, in a few days you'll be who I say doing what I say. It's a bonus that you are so pretty," now he openly leered at her.

"That mister vampire, is something you will never get to try, I'd rather die!"

"Oh but you will, Sookie Stackhouse, you will. And then after you're dead we'll see how you beg for me," he was mocking her.

Sookie felt a strange tickling sensation at the front of her mind, like she had the first time Eric had tried to glamorize her. She held it out, successfully. With the tiny victory she suddenly found something that was all but gone. Hope. However small her powers were returning. Her captor was frowning, as he glared down at her.

Fighting the wave of nausea that tried to claim her, Sookie started to open doors. Behind some there was nothing, behind others a weak flicker. She knew there was not enough here to take this vile creature on, this close to death she was just grateful to find anything at all. Eric was out there somewhere looking for her, she knew in her heart he was there. Splitting what little power she could muster she put a firmer wall around her mind, then sent a single beacon straight into the air. Like a laser it shone for only a few seconds before her captor saw it. He lifted his foot and kicked her in the head, knocking her out cold again.

But the light burned on, a beacon to anyone who cared to look. Malcolm Moore tried every mind trick he possessed to extinguish the light, but her mind was locked out of his reach.

Tricky little bitch, he thought as he knelt over her, fangs down, and prepared to finish what he had started.

"_Sookie, wake up Sookie."_

_Locked inside her own mind, her power fading quickly, Sookie thought this a torment dreamed up by her blood starved mind._

"_Sookie, wake up!"_

_It was Nula's voice, Sookie knew her friend and teacher well. How she missed her, despite the brief acquaintance._

"_Sookie!"_

"_I'm awake," she thought. "Where are you? Have you come to take me on when he kills me?"_

"_Sookie, poor Sookie, you know you are dying, don't you?" Nula asked her._

"_How can you be here?"_

"_Sookie, I never left you. I said I couldn't take a host, that was a lie. I've been here with you since Satarel murdered me. Did you never question the ease with which your powers grew?"_

"_How can you be here with me? I'm hallucinating, it's the lack of blood isn't it?" Sookie knew without any doubt she would be dead soon._

"_No, I didn't stay with you to see you die. How will you look after my Northman if you die," Nula chided her gently._

"_I don't understand, and why do they all say I'm Nephilim? I'm not am I?" she asked._

"_No Sookie, both this creature and my father could sense Nephilim spirit in you, but it was not yours, it was mine."_

"_But how are you here, inside my mind?" Sookie persisted._

"_In here we are but spirits, ghosts," she smiled gently, "Eric's Ghosts."_

"_I like that. Will you die properly then when I do?" Sookie asked._

"_We're not going to die Sookie, I have a plan to save us both." Nula told her._

"_Nula?"_

"_Yes Sookie?"_

"_Were you watching when Eric and I...?"_

"_Oh, Sookie!"_

Malcolm Moore knew he was rushing this. He had wanted to draw out and savor every moment of this making, but it was more important now that he had the witch turned and bound to him before Eric got here. She was ready for him, almost drained dry, her energy filling him. The next step was to cut himself, make her feed from him. Drawing a blade across his breast he lifted her head up to him, as if he were a mother suckling a babe. He had expected resistance, but it seemed there was no fight left in Sookie Stackhouse.

She gagged at first, as his rich blood flooded her mouth and burned her throat. He had expected her to struggle, but she just took what he offered, drinking deeply from him. Malcolm felt a tickle at his mind, smiled at the thought that even now this virtual child would try to invade him. He was ancient, older than anything even Eric had encountered, he would not fall to this slip of a girl.

But the tickling grew, it was making him queasy. Perhaps he had underestimated Sookie after all. For one thing he had never expected her to take his blood so willing, for another he didn't think she had strength left to fight his mind.

Wrong on both counts then, he smiled.

_Oh so very fucking wrong!_

The voice in his head wasn't Sookie's. He tried to pull her head away from his breast, but she was clamped there, feeding from him. Malcolm had to push with all his strength to free her, gasping in pain when she took a lump of his flesh with her.

_Too late wise guy!_

Malcolm hunted the room for the source of the voice, but there was no-one here save himself and Sookie, and she had passed out.

_I'm in your head, and there is no room for both of us._

The light in Malcolm's eyes went out. Nula brushed him aside, killing his mind as if the ancient vampire was little more than a bug.

"Sookie, it worked," Nula said through Malcolm's mouth.

"I thought your kind couldn't enter a vampire," Sookie said.

"I got in through the bond. Trouble is I think I'm stuck here, it feels pretty permanent," Nula told her.

"What now?" Sookie asked.

"Now you feed off this body properly, you're still in bad shape," Nula told her.

Without fear Sookie put her mouth to the vampire's breast, and drank again from the wound. She was feeling stronger already.

On the rooftop Eric looked for a window. He had seen the strange light, and known that it was Sookie. Eric had left Victor behind when he learned that he couldn't fly, to carry him would only slow Eric down. Below him he could see the scene through the skylight window. It was obvious to him that this mysterious ancient vampire had been draining Sookie, was turning her. He had to stop it.

Without fear for himself he dived through the glass, landing just beside the vampire as he nursed Sookie to him. He could feel it's ancient power, knew he was far outclassed here. It mattered not, he had to save Sookie.

Or die trying.

Sookie saw him, screamed. Eric thought she must just now have realized what was happening here. He must have glamored her to get this so far, Eric thought. The vampire's eyes opened wide in shock, and fear.

Something in those eyes was familiar, but there was no time, Sookie could already be turning. Eric leaped forward, swinging his terrible blade at the vampire's neck.

"Eric, no!" it cried, in Nula's voice.

But he didn't understand, and the sword was already swinging at the ancient vampire's neck.


	9. Chapter 9

Eric's Ghosts

Chapter Nine

Eric felt the blade turn in his grip. It was ripped from his hand and flung across the room, the point embedded in the wall. The force used left his fingers numb, his wrist aching.

"Nula? Sookie?"

Nula smiled with Malcolm's face, and nodded. Sookie was on her feet, ignoring the pain she felt she flung herself at Eric.

"I knew you'd come," she told him, burying her head against his neck.

"Someone needs to tell me what is going on here," he said quietly.

"Malcolm was trying to turn me, I was weak and dying. I tried to fight but there was nothing left, I couldn't use my powers. Nula saved me," Sookie gushed the words, she wanted Eric to understand, and quickly.

"But Nula's dead, you were there," he said.

Malcolm's body stood, blood still dripping from his wounded breast. A low growl rose in Eric's throat as he came a step closer.

"It is me, Eric. I've been with Sookie since that night at my house. I would never take another life to prolong my own, but this," her hand indicated the body she now occupied, "this I have no regret about at all."

"But Nephilim can't take a vampire host," he pointed out.

"Not normally, but I surmised there might be an opening when he was trying to turn Sookie. I went in through his blood, did some turning of my own," her laugh was the same soft tinkle of harp strings that he remembered.

"Is Sookie vampire?" he asked, looking down at the head of blond hair at his neck. She smelled of vampire, and there was definitely something different about her, but it could just be from the feeding he had witnessed.

"We'll know when the sun comes up," Nula told him, "I really hope not."

"And you... ?" he let the question hang in the air.

Nula's laugh was beautiful, though it hurt Eric's head to hear it from the mouth of a male vampire. Especially a male vampire he had come here to kill.

"Oh my love I am so vampire, and unfortunately so male," she assured him.

"Do you have his memories, as well as your own?" Eric thought for a minute she could help figure out who Malcolm had been working for.

"Sorry, lover, I think I might have been a bit too rough with him. I learned a trick or two from Sookie while I was in her head. I'll never be her match power wise, but I can sure copy her technique. This little change," again she indicated the body she now occupied, "should make our relationship interesting."

"It'll make it safer, I never did like men, especially pretty men," he grinned, seeming to accept what the women told him.

"Pretty? Oh is it changing already?" Nula asked. It was changing, the lines of the face were softening, the muscle definition improving. From the inside Nula's Nephilim spirit was altering the new host. "I wonder just how far the changes will go?"

"Not far enough," Eric laughed, but he held Sookie tighter to him.

Safe in his embrace Sookie was content to take comfort from her viking lover. The blood she had taken from Nula had made her stronger, more aware, and she could feel her wounded body healing. But her heart needed Eric like never before. He must have been aware of her need, because he held her ever tighter, almost crushing her body against his.

From her sanctuary Sookie took in their surroundings for the first time. They were in a richly furnished bedroom of massive size, with just about the largest four poster bed she had ever seen. There was a massive stone fireplace, over which hung a portrait of a large dog. In the corner stood a full suit of armor on a stand. With her senses heightened she could smell the passage of years on the place, the rich aroma of history.

"Where are we?" she asked Eric.

"North, far north of York," he told her, soothing her hair.

"I've been here before Eric, so have you," Nula told them as she took in her surroundings. "We stayed in this very room once, although it looked different then."

Sookie looked at Eric. Was he blushing? Could a vampire like Eric blush? His face was certainly less white than normal.

"We're going to have to talk about these disclosures Nula," he said with gentle reproach.

"Do I embarrass you? It's okay Eric, I'm not planning on telling anyone how great a lover you are, not while I wear this body anyway. Might raise some questions," she laughed again. Sookie's ears were sharper than normal, she heard the subtle change in Nula's laugh, like it was deepening.

Eric was grinning, a mixture of relief at having saved Sookie, and amusement at Nula's predicament.

"You're right though, we have been here before, it does seem familiar. I just wish I could remember better," Eric changed the subject to something less uncomfortable.

"We were guests here, Eric, when we fought the Nephilim. Do you remember who owns this castle?"

Sookie was sure now, Nula's voice was dropping every time she spoke. Looks like her spirit will change and be changed, she thought. The realization made her unexpectedly very happy and relieved. Nula would never again be a threat to her relationship with Eric, but she would still be their friend. She couldn't have wished for a better outcome. Only now did Sookie see how much they had both been missing Azazel's daughter.

"I can't remember," Eric confessed.

"Sleep on it, Eric. This is going to hurt when you remember," Nula warned him. She was on her feet, pulling the coat that Malcolm had worn about his shoulders.

"Where are you going?" Sookie asked.

"Hunting dear Sookie. I fear you have drained my host, and you are definitely not strong enough for two vampires. Not yet anyway," she winked.

Sookie grinned, then realized the meaning of the wink. Her cheeks burned scarlet. Nula would not be a rival for Eric's affection any more, but she might still be a problem for their relationship.

"She is mine," Eric warned Nula, but there was still mirth in his voice, this change was amusing him.

"I'm much older than you now, Northman," Nula told him playfully. She left at that, heading into the night to find her own meal.

At last they were alone. Sookie pulled Eric's handsome face down to hers. Their mouths met. For a moment he was gentle with her, as if fearing that he would aggravate one of her many injuries. But when she bit his tongue, rough enough to draw blood, he knew she wasn't concerned at all.

"Sookie you are different," he pulled back from her.

"It's like the first time I tasted it, a heady rush. Everything I see is ten times sharper, everything I smell is ten times stronger. I can't wait to try everything else out!"

Fangs fully extended Eric growled a low bass note from his throat as he lifted her to him. For a long time they kissed, held together as if to part would end the world.

"I love you, Eric," Sookie told him as he carried her gently to the bed.

"What's not to love?" he asked.

Holding her upright Eric tenderly opened the buttons of the torn and blood stained blouse she wore, letting it drop to the floor. He kissed her again, feeling her respond to him, smelling her body's response. Eric was drawn to the heat of her sex, had to force himself not to rip off the rest of her garments and simply take her. With the same tenderness his strong hands found the button and zip at the top of her skirt. It fell in a circle around her feet.

Sookie lay back on the bed, raising her hips in the hope that just once he would take the panties down, but the tiny cotton briefs were in no match for his big strong hands. He drew back to admire her, while she wriggled out of the lacy bra. Exposed for him, with no embarrassment, Sookie knew she had come a long way with her vampire lover. Her skin tingled as the hairs stood up in the chill of the big room.

He was drinking in the sight of her body, her legs, her neatly trimmed pubic hair, her delightful breasts. Her throat, exposed for him as she threw back her head, an invitation for him to use her body as he pleased.

Eric's fingertips traced her skin from toe to thigh, never touching, just far enough off the skin that she would sense rather than feel him. She found the sensation breathtaking, curling her toes as the heat inside her grew to a furnace. Precisely his hands moved together up her thighs, still his skin not touching hers, but the sensation with her heightened senses was exquisite. Sookie was disappointed when he passed over her opening, but delight returned when she realized he intended to torment her entire body without touching her. Everywhere his hands hovered her nerve endings sent frantic impulses to her groin, his almost touch more intense than anything she had felt before.

Over her breasts his near touch made the nipples tighten. She yearned for him to put his mouth to them, to hold her flesh firmly and and squeeze pleasure from her, but still just that almost touch that was driving her senses into a frenzy. When his tongue touched her exposed throat she thought she would explode, it's surface seemed so rough after the way he had made her skin tingle. Eric traced a line to her ear, taking the lobe into his mouth, manipulating it with his tongue as he would her sex. Waves of pleasure washed through her, bringing her close to climax.

But then his tongue was gone. She felt a sense of loss, like someone had robbed her, only to have her delight return when he landed on her nipple. Her eyes were closed as she concentrated on the sensations he created in her, like a maestro at the keyboard he made her reach her first crescendo. Still he had barely touched her. Behind her closed eyelids her eyes saw a kaleidoscope of colors as her skin danced to the tune he played on her.

"Eric, I can't take much more of this," she told him, her voice hoarse. She could feel him grin as he shifted his attention to her other breast, this time squeezing her flesh as his tongue worked it's magic on her. The sensation was exquisite, nothing like the many times he had performed the same act on her before. Finally he reached a hand down to rest it just above her opening. She pushed her hips up to guide his fingers, but he held his hand where it was resisting the temptation to enter her. Sookie felt what he was doing, working her flesh above her opening to manipulate her nerve center. The sensation was subtle, but with her sensations as focused as they were tonight she knew he was building up her tension again. Twist as she might against him he would not satisfy her need to have him inside her.

And then he did, his finger dipping into the soaking opening, his mouth clamping firmly to her breast. The sudden change in pressure released her climax so hard she tough she would pass out. Her body was on fire, her mind at sea. But still he didn't enter her.

"Eric, please!" she begged.

His mouth was on hers, her breast felt incomplete without him, but she sank into his glorious soul stealing kisses, like he was drinking from the well that was all of her being. She responded with hunger, her tongue chasing his as they played from mouth to mouth, her lips paying homage to his fangs. When she opened her eyes he was floating just above her, not allowing any of his weight to rest on her. His beautiful torso hovered only a tiny gap above her, close enough that when her fine body hair rose to him it was the only contact their bodies had. The sensation was like licking the top of a battery, only spread over her whole body. Torturing her she wanted the tingling to end, to be replaced with his cool skin against hers.

Without lowering his weight to her he found her swollen and soaked opening, pressing just the tip inside her. It rested against her nerve center which pulsed as her blood pumped through. The extremely gentle but accurate act made her blood simmer as she began to reach another climax.

"I can't take any more! Eric, please," she begged.

So slowly he dropped onto her, pressing inside her, stretching her taught as he filled her. Sookie was sure he felt bigger even than normal as he started to move against and within. Her hips moved against his, pushing him in deeper, but still he remained in total control. She could take no more. Her hands found his glorious ass, and with strength she wasn't before aware she had, she pulled him as far into her as he would go. Eric grunted in pleasure as her nails tore the skin on his ass, and he began to rock with her impaled on him.

Sookie reacted with furious energy, drawing him in, holding him in her. Her grip made her fingers hurt, and when she bit into his shoulder she tasted his fine blood in her mouth. Eric was increasing speed as they were locked together, his hips moving faster and faster until they went beyond what any human was capable of. Pushing her pelvis down against him Sookie screamed as he pulled another violent climax from her, before his own finish made him thrust further into her than she had known was there, his back rigid and arched as his fluid pumped into her.

On a wave of pleasure Sookie blacked out. When she awoke in the morning sunlight he was gone. She knew he hadn't fed from her last night, and was disappointed with the knowledge.

"You'll never better that, Eric Northman," she told the empty room, before drifting back into a contented sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Eric's Ghosts

Chapter Ten

Stretched out in the huge four poster bed, Sookie slept through to nightfall. Eric's mouth brushing hers woke her, and she responded in kind.

"Lover," she said.

"Nutter," he laughed softly.

"Why nutter?" she asked, more than a little offended.

"Sookie, don't you remember? I wanted to take you with me, in case you had been turned. But you insisted on having the sun's full rays on your face. I stayed to the last second, but I couldn't be sure you'd survived," he looked relieved.

"I'd rather die than not be able to have sunrise," she told him.

"That's what you said, I couldn't convince you that it would be okay not having just one. But you just insisted."

Sookie thought about what he told her. She really couldn't remember, but she would do the same thing again. Sometimes, even after all their time together she thought he still didn't understand her.

"Is there food?" she asked, "you lot forget about me."

"My dear, I have been out hunter gathering for you already," a strange voice behind Eric told her. Sookie moved her head to see the host Nula had taken standing at the door. The voice was alien to Sookie, having dropped further still in note.

"You are changing," she told her friend.

"I know, but I think I like it. I've never been a man before, but I'm glad I got one with a killer body. In both senses," she laughed at her own joke.

"New set of appetites?" Sookie asked. She was relieved that Nula would likely stop trying to seduce Eric.

"Oh yes, now I can terrorize the other half. So many women, so little time," Nula laughed.

"Nula?"

"Yes Sookie?"

"Can we do something about the name?" Sookie asked.

"How do you mean?" asked Nula.

"I find it hard to call a man who looks like that by your name, it's messing with my senses," Sookie confessed.

"Mine also," Eric added. "You are no longer the woman you were, and I'm having a very hard time with it too!"

Sookie wondered at the frank admission from Eric. It was out of character for him to admit that something made him so uncomfortable. Nula just laughed again.

"I suppose you're both right. Okay from now on call me Neal, will that do?" she asked.

"Neal? Okay Neal it is," Sookie replied.

"Have you figured out the little riddle yet?" Neal, how odd the name seemed, asked Eric.

"No, not yet," Eric told them.

"Eric this was Godfrey's place."

Bolt upright Eric looked again at his surroundings, then slowly he nodded. It was as she said, he realized. Godfrey had let them stay here during the Nephilim war. The first one. Godfrey had never wanted to share a nest with them, but he had always made them welcome.

"Poor Godfrey, I wonder what connection Malcolm had to him?" Eric asked no-one in particular.

"What do we do now?" Sookie asked.

It was Neal who answered.

"We rest. You've had a tough time, Eric's been on a roller-coaster, I have a new body to get used to. I'm still trying to figure out how everything works. Maybe you could help me with it, Sookie?" Neal who was Nula suggested.

"Of course," Sookie agreed, before catching exactly what "Neal" meant. "Oh no, that's just wrong!"

Eric looked over his shoulder, then back at Sookie. Had his first love just made a pass at his second? He couldn't be sure if it was meant as a joke or not. Eric really hoped it was.

"Let's get you fed, then I think we should bathe," he told Sookie. "I agree that we should rest a day or two, and I doubt anyone will come calling here."

Sookie pulled a robe around her naked body, aware of the way "Neal" was looking at her. She felt very uncomfortable that there were two males watching her every move.

"Think I'll bathe first, then eat," she told them both. "Where is the bathroom?"

Eric led her to a doorway. He lingered, waiting for an invitation that never came. Sookie locked the door from the inside to keep them both out.

Lying in the hot soapy water she washed away the grime of sleep and sex. Her ordeal with Malcolm had been tougher on her than she had admitted, even to herself. But alone in the bath she could admit for a little while just how frightened she had been. For a while she stared at the ceiling, tears in her eyes. Salt water tears.

Her attention shifted to her new problem. When she had been with Bill she had been pursued by Eric, who according to Bill could just have taken her from him if it was what he desired. She had asked why Bill could or would do nothing, to learn that Eric was older, more powerful, faster. And he was of higher rank in the vampire world. Sookie loved Eric in a way that she had never felt with anyone else.

Now "Neal" was the older vampire, albeit nothing more than a Nephilim host. Once already he had made his desire for Sookie clear, at least to her. She wondered how she could turn the attention away from herself. Only when the water got cold did she give up looking for an answer. Maybe she'd just let Eric figure this one out.

Eric was waiting for her when she opened the bathroom door.

"Neal's gone hunting," he told her. "I struggle with the new identity."

"You do? Eric you've been mainstreaming too long, you're starting to sound so human," Sookie told him.

"I'm struggling, Sookie, because I loved Nula. More than my own existence I loved her, more than anything ever before you came along and showed me what love really was," he told her.

"I can cope with it, Eric," Sookie told him, hoping she was right.

"Sookie you don't understand! I'm struggling because though I loved Nula, I can't help but think how much I want to kill her now!"


	11. Chapter 11

A/N Thank you for the kindest reviews, I get a little rush when I read them. I'm sorry if anyone was disappointed at the way the other story ended but in my head it needed to end that way.

Eric's Ghosts

Chapter Eleven

Sookie dined alone. She sighed, knowing it would always be this way.

One of the things that struck her as odd about vampires was that they found her eating hard to watch. Amused by the irony she chewed on in silence.

Up on the roof Eric wanted time alone, he said. He was really struggling with Nula's return, her new identity. Part of him wanted to embrace her, the other wanted to slice her in two. Sookie had never seen him so torn, he'd even started talking to her about his dilemma. Bring on the dilemmas Sookie thought, if it made him talk like a real person now and then.

Back in Shreveport no-one would ever believe that Eric had angst. Sookie was grinning at the thought when he came back.

How she loved him. He was standing with his broad muscular back to him, barely covered by a vest. Black jeans hugged his hips and the world's finest ass, the boots on his feet seemed to make him walk with even more attitude. Eric wasn't big on conversation, but she got everything she needed from his eyes, and from the way he made her feel. When he touched her she got goosebumps, when he loved her it was like he had written the book that others tried to follow.

"No sign of her?" Sookie asked.

"None, not that I was looking for her," he said.

Sookie forgave the lie, it was a little one. She had learned a little of men from Eric, knew there was a time to challenge an inconsistency, and a time to ignore it. At least now that Nula was in a male body, and one that had belonged to an ancient vampire, she was no longer a threat to her relationship with Eric.

At least not as far as her stealing Eric was concerned. Sookie was less than comfortable with the new persona that Nula was building for herself. She didn't like the way the Nephilim's child looked at her, and felt creepy at her touch. Perhaps Eric wasn't the only one uncomfortable with her new feelings.

Likely Nula had felt the tension too. She had taken the new host for a test flight, and to hunt. Was it possible that she was enjoying the new dynamic between them even less than Sookie and Eric were?

Whatever was in her head Nula didn't return that night. Sookie sat in Eric's arms all night, content just to be. Only as dawn approached did she mourn the night alone they could have used for so much more. But Eric had to flee the coming sun.

It would ever be so, she reflected as she crawled back into the huge four poster bed. The trials of the last few days had left her weakened and aching, much in need of rest. As soon as her head touched the pillow she slept.

_The dream seemed so real. Sookie knew she was asleep in the bed in the castle that had once belonged to Godfrey. Somewhere in the building below Eric slept too, waiting for the night to return._

_She was standing on a cliff edge, looking down on the stormy sea below as it rose to crash against the rocks. Sookie could hear the boom and roar as it pummeled the rocks and cliff face far below. There was a little boat caught on the swell and in danger of being dashed against the rocks. Try as she might Sookie could not make herself over the wind, and had no choice but to watch as the boat was struck, the crew lost._

_Then she saw him, in the water. One of the crew was trying to swim in the massive swell to reach the shore. On the shingle beach a woman waited, her raven hair whipped about in the gale that blew around her. When he finally neared the shore she went into the water to haul him out. Pulling the first swimmer to the shore she plunged back into the water again, to pull out another struggling swimmer and drag him up onto the beach. In all she dived back in six times, rescuing the entire crew._

_Soaked and exhausted the woman lay on her back on the beach, beside the men she had saved. She lay with her eyes open, looking up to the cliff top. In the dream she saw Sookie, and waved._

Sookie woke with a start. She knew at once what she had seen in her dream, the woman was Nula, the men Eric and his crew. The scene she had witnessed was not the romantic tale of raiders meeting the beautiful local she had been told before, but somehow she knew this to be the true version of Eric's first meeting with Nula. Sookie dismissed the wave from Nula as something added by her own imagination. Sleep took her again.

_The dream was continuing, she realized. On the shingle, back from the water's edge, the miserable little group had made a fire and huddled about it for warmth. Sookie could pick out Eric from among the men below, he stood at least half a head taller than any of them. When he sat with Nula they laughed and talked long after their companions slept. They seemed at ease together, relaxed despite the predicament they found themselves in._

_In the hour before dawn Nula led them all away from the foot of the cliff, into natural caves that had been formed from the sea. There they could shelter from the rain that pelted the beach as the waves tried to claim the shore._

It was dark when Sookie woke, alone in the massive bedroom. Her dreams had continued, always of Eric, his companions, and Nula. Sookie had witnessed the way in which Eric and Nula's relationship had grown as they traveled, up to and including the first time they made love. At some point she guessed that what she was seeing was Eric's dreams, as he slept somewhere else in the building, far below her.

"Neal" returned to her first. The host body was changing, the facial features softening, the muscle definition of chest and torso firming. "Neal" was delighted to find Sookie awake.

"How do you feel, Sookie?"

"Still tired, still sore," she admitted.

"You've been through a lot. Eric and I were both sure you would turn. He was furious when you wanted to find out the hard way, by meeting the sun," Neal told her.

"Why didn't I turn?" Sookie asked.

"We don't know, not really. It must have something to do with the power you wield. He was relieved and disappointed when you were okay, he wants you to join him, but he knows it's not what you want."

Eric entered the room. He was dressed as yesterday in black jeans and vest. "Neal" reached out a hand to hold Sookie's just as the viking entered. Sookie saw her wink, and stifled a laugh as she realized the game that was afoot here. Suddenly she felt relieved, everything would be okay between them.

Coming into the room Eric's first view of Sookie was of her in bed, holding hands with "Neal". They seemed lost in conversation, and at first unaware of him. "Neal" had changed, becoming more like the beautiful men Eric had been forced to kill in Shreveport when they had come to murder him.

"We need to get ready," he told them. "There's a group of cars approaching."


	12. Chapter 12

Eric's Ghosts

Chapter Twelve

Five big black Chryslers pulled up outside. From their vantage point they all saw the tall well built figure that got out first. His swarthy skin, long black hair and bespoke suits made him unforgettable.

"Victor," Sookie said out loud.

"Are we betrayed?" she asked the others.

"No," Eric told them, "I don't think so. They are too casual, but I'd love to know why Victor is here."

"Should we go down and ask?" Sookie wanted to know.

"No, I think we'll go to the roof, see if we can find out what's going on here."

"Is Malcolm here?" Victor asked, looking directly at the window they had stood at. There was a light on, and everything seemed in order. From the cars an assortment of men, shapeshifters and vampires came to gather around the door.

"It's open, he must be hunting," one of them told him.

Sookie had to stifle a gasp, she recognized some of the figures on the ground, along with Victor. There was one of the family heads who had met with Eric the night they arrived here, and a Sheriff from Area Seven or Eight she thought. Some of the shapeshifters were familiar too, including the one called Bear who had been guarding her the night that Nula was killed.

"What's going on Eric? Have they come to help us?" she asked.

"Sookie no-one knows where we are, they've come to see Malcolm. We have been betrayed," Eric told her, his fangs were out, and Sookie knew the look on his handsome face. Her viking would kill tonight.

Beside them Nula was watching as another car approached, a huge black Lexus. Everyone on the ground, including the family head, bowed when a girl of perhaps nine or ten got out of the car. She was beautiful, but dressed and made up like a woman far older than her appearance. Her blonde hair hung in ringlets over the black lace collar of her high necked dress. Sookie looked a question at Eric, who nodded.

"She is vampire, and she is ancient," he told her.

From their vantage on the roof they watched as the group below entered the building. There was noise from inside the castle as they sought their host, and some disparaging remarks as they found him absent. Another female, a tall ebony skinned girl with jet black hair and eyes that were all black, followed the blonde girl into the house.

Sookie opened the doors, reached out with her mind to find the beings below. There was nothing, not the void of vampires, not the almost animal projection of the shapeshifters, nothing. It was as if someone or something was blocking her. Confused she looked to Eric, who was watching her intently.

"Nothing," she said. "It's like someone is blocking me. It feels like the kind of barrier I raise naturally to block out other peoples thoughts, but on a much larger scale."

"There's a witch down there, the last girl is known to me," Nula told them.

"Who is she?" Eric asked.

"Her real name is known only to her. She was among my people once, a cruel bitch who sought to steal the best man of the tribe away, her people call her Night. She's your witch," Nula informed them.

"What did your people do?" Sookie asked.

Nula looked at the ground, ashamed.

"We fought and died in dozens to stop her, but she had her way. The man she took was my uncle, Feargal. Sookie I've seen her at work, centuries ago, you are in danger here."

"I'm always in danger," Sookie told her, "Eric thinks it's funny to tell people he's trying to get me killed."

Eric wasn't laughing as he weighed up their chances against the group gathered down stairs.

"Who's in charge down there, Eric?" Nula asked.

"Hard to say," he said. "Victor we have underestimated. The one you call Night is powerful. Alexander is head of the Italian family, he was there when we started sealing the prisons, he is at least as old as I am. Those shapeshifters look to be equal with the vampires, which makes them dangerous, they could be in control here. But it's the little girl I think, she makes even my skin crawl!"

"Eric, what do you suppose is going on?" Nula asked.

"Looks like a band of supes working together. Whatever they are up to, it's going to be bad for someone."

He concentrated on the voices coming from below, straining his hearing to pick out what was said. It became clear that they were waiting for someone, a being to whom they all deferred. The girl was annoyed that Malcom wasn't here waiting for them.

Another thing became clear too, he heard Victor spell out what he had been beginning to suspect.

"Has there been a sighting of Northman?" he asked one of his companions.

"Hunt's on, but nothing. Are you sure he didn't follow Malcom?" a female voice answered.

"Positive, I saw Malcolm get away clean. Eric was like a lost fool, he didn't know where to start looking for the telepath. She was out cold, two by two beats mental powers every time," he laughed.

"What do you suppose he's done with the girl, after all she's the reason he called us all here?"

"Probably turned the poor girl and bound her to him. I'm willing to bet he's left her buried around here somewhere while he hunts," Victor laughed again.

"What happens if he has turned her?" that voice was a child's, the little girl with the ringlets. "My father wanted her."

"It won't matter, she would have needed turning at some point, better that someone of the strength Malcolm has be the one to do it. She's strong, and very feisty," Victor told them.

"What do we do now, Eric?" Nula asked.

"We wait, we listen in on them. If it looks like this is a bad place to be we take to the air and flee," he said.

"Or maybe you should come down and introduce yourselves!" said a voice behind them. None of them had heard or felt the newcomer arrive, not even Sookie. He stood with booted feet planted firmly apart, arms folded across his chest, his ankle length leather coat covering a torso that was all bone. His grinning skull caught the moonlight, the eye sockets glowed red.

"Bones?" Sookie gasped.

"No, Sookie, but one like him," Eric had his sword held ready.


	13. Chapter 13

Eric's Ghosts

Chapter Thirteen

Rage, fear and disgust filled Sookie. If this creature was just like Bones she knew exactly what it was, and what it was capable of. Already she could feel it probing at her mind as it stood square to Eric.

"You will not!" she told it, and locked the thing firmly out of her head. It looked surprised, if a blank white skull can have facial expressions. Eric was growling, his fangs were out, his blade was up. At his other side Nula was ready to pounce. She had been in Sookie's head when they had fought Bones, had seen and felt everything.

It lunged at Eric, bony fingers trying to connect with his iron hard flesh, while unseen it launched what must have seemed like a vicious barrage at Sookie. Her mind shook with the impact as the ancient evil threw everything it had at her. For a moment she thought it would overwhelm her, so severe was the power it unleashed at her.

"That it?" she asked.

The thing faltered in it's attack on Eric, it knew they little human should be dead, brain burned out and smoking from it's ears. Eric launched a withering attack with the great blade as the thing tried to assess how this had all gone so badly wrong. Nothing had ever stood up to it before.

There was a commotion from downstairs.

"The telepath's on the roof, and she's active," Eric heard the witch say. He redoubled his efforts to lay a blow on the lich, using every ounce of his vampire strength and inhuman speed. It put up a spirited fight, parrying like a demon to match every attack the vampire made. Sookie knew that Eric could not keep this up for ever, and she could hear feet running up the stone steps from below. She knew this had to end decisively, now.

"Stop!" she commanded. For a moment the running below stopped, as did the fighting in front of her. It was as if everyone and thing around wanted to see what she would do next. She burned with fury, her senses outraged by the assault the lich had made on her. That it expected her brain to burn incensed her.

Not knowing how she did it, Sookie plucked the skull from atop it's body, launched it down the stairs at the running feet. There was a gasp of collective shock, but then they came on. In front of Eric the thing collapsed into a pile of bones and dust.

A surprised looking spirit, the bones covered in flesh, stood staring aghast at Sookie.

"What kind of monster are you?" it rasped. With a whoosh it was gone.

"Oh, that's new!" Sookie said to herself.

"What is?" Eric asked, watching the door at the top of the stairs.

"No Valley that time, straight to damnation I think," she told him.

Eric shook his head, "I've created a monster."

Sookie flipped him the bird, then sent out her mind to find out what was below. She recoiled instantly when she felt the malevolence coming from the witch on the stairs, the one they called Night.

"Eric, we're not alone up here!" she warned him, pointing to the area where the air seemed to go silver and vibrate. The shifters had flown up as birds, and were now changing into something more appropriate. Sookie smiled at the idea, Eric twitched with his sword. He knew they had done this to get him away from the stair head. It was Nula who took the lead.

"I'll get them, there's only eight of them, you and Sookie hold the stairs," it was said then she was gone, moving at frightening vampire speed to engage the creatures as they took form. Some were bears, some wolves, one a very large cat. Nula was in their midst and savaging them before they could get their shapes settled.

Grinning from ear to ear, Eric waited at the top of the stairs, knowing that the climb would leave the attackers below vulnerable to his blade, no matter how quick they were. He could feel Sookie behind him, could sense rather than see that she was already fighting. He hoped she would be strong enough to take on Night.

Across the rooftop Nula pulled a shifter who was becoming a wolf by the neck towards her and wrung it's neck. It was still falling to the ground as she landed a heavy two handed punch in a bear's chest, driving it backwards so fast it went over the edge. She was on a third when their shapes all settled and they came at her all teeth and claws.

In front of Eric the trapdoor exploded in a blast of energy. He caught a glimpse of the girl with the ringlets and the witch called Night, then two vampires charged up the stairs at full speed. Eric took the first one with a sweeping cut to the shoulder that cut the thing's arm off on the way to it's spine. Reversing the blade as he pulled it from the horrific wound he drove it point first into the face of the second vampire. For a moment it's head hung impaled, but still living, on the blade. With their unnatural speed other vampires rushed past and onto the roof. Eric knew the military term for losing the high ground so quickly.

"Oh shit!" he said.

There was nothing to be seen, but Sookie felt a huge blast of psychic energy coming her way. She had no idea what form the attack would take, and no intention of finding out. She replied with a similar blast that deflected the attack, sent it over her head. Sookie had never used her power in quite this way before, but she was very glad to learn she could.

"Give it up Victor, you know you're outclassed," Eric taunted.

"You think?" came the clipped English voice from below.

"Why don't you save yourself Eric, is she really worth dying for?"

Sookie looked at her viking, he was looking straight at her.


	14. Chapter 14

Eric's Ghosts

Chapter Fourteen

"I'll never give up my ghosts," Eric said to no-one but himself.

"Have it your way Northman," Victor called. "You can watch what we do with her before you kill her."

Nula had a brief respite in her fight with the shifters. Despite her rush at them, and the fact that two of them were dead, they were confused to find themselves fighting against Malcolm. She laughed at them before lunging back into the fight. A huge wolf had decided to kill her anyway, so as it came at her with slavering jaws wide to bite her she used the superior strength and speed the vampire host gave her. With a quick sidestep she grabbed the open jaws, pulled them apart with all the strength she could muster. The thing realized too late what was happening as it tried to pull away, but Nula wasn't letting go. One great heave and she tore the thing's head in half. Eric nodded in approval before turning his attention back to the vampires.

Eric Northman, master swordsman and viking warrior, danced the forms as the blade twirled like a carnival baton in his hands. Matched with his speed the flashing steel bit into any vampire unfortunate enough to step close. There were ten opponents around him, all vying for the chance to lay a blow on him, but all trying not to feel the kiss of his wicked steel.

Behind him Sookie stood rigid, hands balled in fists at her side. On the floor below Night stood in the same stance, her ebony skin glowing as she poured her psychic power into attack after attack on Sookie. She was talented, if a touch less strong than Sookie, and knew tricks that the little waitress could barely imagine. But each planned and accurate attack was met with a wall of blunt steel, or an energy attack just a little stronger. What Sookie lacked in finesse she more than compensated with raw strength.

For now. All three knew that fate could turn cruelly against them. They had no doubt that this fight needed to end soon before the sheer difference in numbers wore them down.

Nula felt the huge cat land on her back, knocking her to the ground. It's massive claws were like steel, puncturing her flesh and making her cry out. She writhed in agony beneath it, tried to use her enhanced strength to throw it off, but once she was on the ground the remaining shifters were on her, tearing at her flesh. Sookie screamed when she saw Nula go down, saw the cat's head dip, and come up with an arm between it's teeth. Nula screamed again as they dismembered her.

Then the body went limp. The animals above her tore at the flesh, rending the creature that had been Malcolm to pieces. Eric saw it too, saw that he and Sookie were alone on the rooftop. Grimly he knew that this would be a fight to the death, possibly his.

The cat shook itself, dropped the dismembered arm, then pounced on the nearest animal. The bear it landed on reacted with surprise as it's throat was torn out. Face and mouth covered in blood it turned to face the remaining bear and two wolves.

Eric was laughing with joy. Nula had jumped from host to host, was even now turning the most deadly of the shape shifters against it's allies.

Maybe tonight would not end so badly after all.

Sookie could feel the witch weaken, the attacks were becoming less frequent, but more cunning. Around her mind she felt attempt after attempt to enter her brain, repulsed them all. She wondered if her well of power could run down as the ancient witch's had.

Eric flashed in a deadly weaving arc that left two more of the vampires dead. He regretted the shedding of his own kind's blood, but not enough to stop him doing it. Two more vampires lay at his feet as the blade changed direction then weaved among them again.

Victor was at the top of the stairs, the little girl with the ringlets at her side. Sookie saw them arrive, could feel the evil presence of the pretty blond girl. Her senses were outraged by the wave of pure malice that emanated from the little girl. Eric had seen her too, was redoubling his efforts to end the fight he was entangled in, he knew instinctively they would go for Sookie, and his instinct wasn't disappointed when they did.

He kicked the feet out from under an opponent who had been slow to dodge, landed the point of the blade in the vampire's throat. Behind him two of them tried to rush him, but he felt the change in the air before they closed the gap with him. Suddenly he was a ball on the floor, blade held level with the ground. Off balance the pair tried to change course, but Eric was up facing them, a look of pure malice on his face as he cut them to pieces. The five who remained circled him warily, while their comrades lay dying on the roof top at Eric's feet. Eric could see the girl and Victor close with Sookie, he couldn't get to her, but he could shout a warning.

Nula heard it, she could see Sookie's predicament too. In a few moments they would be on her, and she would be defenseless. The big cat tried to evade the creatures around it, earning a nasty slice to it's back leg for it's efforts. She could do nothing else but fight on, but her opponents were wary of her now, and were making it harder for her to land a decisive blow.

Sookie could see the odd couple approach her, but she was helpless as the witch continued to attack her mind, using all of her resources in defense. She saw Eric try to disengage, earning a vicious cut that pumped blood from his back. Nula was lame where a wolf had ripped her leg open. In a minute these two would be on her, and would kill her.

At the top of the stairs stood Alexander, head vampire of the Italian family, who had been there in person when Eric closed the prisons. Sookie wondered if this could get any worse. When the cat fell under a mountain of fangs and claws, rending and biting and tearing, she saw that it could.

But then she felt something in her own head, a little voice. She had to concentrate to hear what it was saying over the din of fighting.

"Project me," Nula's disembodied voice told her.

"I don't know how," Sookie confessed.

"I'll show you, like this," Nula told her, then the Nephilim was gone again.

And the witch stopped attacking. Absolutely committed to her fight with Sookie, there was no part of Night that could fend off the Nephilim's invasion. She managed to put up her hands in dismay before Nula snuffed out her ancient life.

"This fits much better," Nula said agreeably. She was still at the foot of the stairs, looking up at Alexander's back. The ancient vampire must have felt the change behind him, turning to face her with a look of shock on his face.

All at once Sookie's mental battle was over, and she knew her projection with Nula had worked. The Nephilim had claimed what might be the greatest prize tonight, the body of the ancient and powerful witch. Casually Sookie lashed out a finger of power at the shape shifters, flinging the bear over the battlements. She doubted it could change shape quickly enough to avoid the ground rushing up to meet it.

Victor stood before her, beside the little girl with the ringlets in her hair. They made no threatening move as yet, just stood looking at her curious. Sookie surrounded herself with every defense she could think off.

Eric swung into a breathtaking spin that ended with three more vampires dead on the ground. Blood pumped from the wound on his back, soaking his jeans. He felt weakened by it, but knew it wasn't deep enough to kill him. Two vampires remained, the fatalistic look of creatures who know their death has come on their faces. Eric sized them up, realizing that they were more deadly opponents when they thought their lives were already forfeit.

The girl with the ringlets walked away from Sookie, leaving her to face Victor and the remaining pair of wolves. She was going to join the attack on Eric. Alexander prepared to pounce on Nula from the top of the stairs. He knew his friend and lover was gone, he had seen the Nephilim at work outside Rome. From his pocket he produced a tiny silver net, no bigger than a hair net. Ignoring how it burned his flesh he prepared to pounce.

"Northman," the girl with the ringlets called. "Will you parley?"

Eric looked at her, the child's body was a deception, the creature who occupied it was pure evil. He had never encountered an aura such as the one he felt from her.

"Why?" he asked, never taking his eyes off the vampires who circled him.

"You interest me. You'll be dead soon and I will regret not having spoken to you. Will you parley?"

Every creature on the rooftop held it's breath, or at least looked as if it did.

"Okay," he said cautiously. "What are you?"


	15. Chapter 15

Eric's Ghosts

Chapter Fifteen

"I am Naeve," the child told him. "My father wants the girl, will you not hand her over? We will spare your life."

"Never, she is mine, and I am hers," Eric defied her.

"But you will die here, Eric Northman. You must give her to us," the child told him.

"What are you? Who is your father?"

"I am Naeve, my father is my father. I am vampire," she said as if speaking to a child.

"I don't know you," Eric told her, "yet you are somehow familiar. I ask again, what are you?"

She had moved to stand between the two remaining vampires and Eric. His sword dripped blood and gore, his arms and hands were covered in it. Her look was curious, but not threatening.

"How is it you survive so long but know nothing of your heritage?" she asked.

"I know my heritage, I know exactly what I am. I ask again who or what are you?"

"I am Naeve, my father is Julius. You owe your heritage to us. We were the first," she told him.

"The first? The first what?" Eric asked, afraid he knew the answer.

"The first. Our powers came from the gods themselves, there were none before us. My father was the first."

"How old are you?" Eric asked in awe.

"I was old when Enoch spoke for the Nephilim at the Valley. I was old when his texts were laid down. I was old when he refused to speak on their behalf. We saw the Nephilim as a diversion, an entertainment if you like. My father requires the girl, the telepath. Will you not surrender her? It would be a shame to waste the life of one such as yourself, you would be useful to us, serving your own kind."

"Must it end this way?" Eric asked. "Can we not find some compromise?"

"My father requires the telepath. Will you yield?" she demanded.

"No," Eric said quietly. The girl with the ringlets looked disappointed for a moment. Then she lunged at Eric, fangs extended, mouth open wide. Her face was twisted in a look of pure hate as she attacked.

The impasse was broken. Alexander launched himself at Nula, the little silver net still burning his hand. Sookie stepped back as Victor came at her while the wolves approached her rear. Eric spun to decapitate the remaining vampires with a vicious sweeping cut that was so fast they never saw it coming.

Sookie used her mind to lift one of the wolves into the air, before breaking it's spine with a flick of her wrist. The other leaped at her unprotected back as Victor came at her, his fangs fully extended. Sookie ducked, let the wolf travel over her to land on Victor. Nula sensed the shift in the monstrous attack. She didn't want Alexander too close with the little silver net. She opened her own mind, started drawing power from the little doors in the same way that she had taught to Sookie.

Eric was left alone to face the little blond girl with the ringlets in her hair. She wasn't even armed, but Eric was afraid.

Alexander lunged forward with incredible speed, attempting to place the little silver net on Nula, even as it burned his flesh. Nula flung him away from her with a shock wave of power, then closed the gap with him. He looked stunned by the impact of the invisible blow. But was on his feet and running at her in a heartbeat.

As Victor made a dive for her Sookie tried to enter his mind, found it closed. She had an impression of a boiling sea, no clear thoughts as he reached for her. One hand took hold of her arm, spinning her around to face him as his teeth flashed in the dark, going for her neck faster than she could react.

Eric's blade twirled in his hand before he brought it into a whistling arc at the child's head. She didn't move, or try to avoid the massive blow, feeling it clang off her skin without drawing blood.

"Eric I am more real than you, you can't hurt me," she mocked, before unleashing a flurry of bare handed blows at him. Most of them landed on his arms, numbing them. Eric dropped the sword. Unarmed he dived on the child, attempting to rip her limb from limb. Her flesh was cold, but it felt like steel. He was dismayed that she didn't think him enough of a threat to defend herself, instead she lifted her skinny child's arm, and flung him wildly into the air.

Sookie created a massive surge of energy, attempting to light Victor up like a candle. The attack seemed to have little effect on him, and still his teeth sought her neck. Struggling in his steel grip Sookie flung everything she had at the vampire. At first he didn't react. But his clothes started to smolder, then his hair. When he burst into flame she kept the power focused on him, making sure he burned properly.

Nula's hands seemed to be on fire. She managed to grab the ancient vampire and make sure he caught light and began to burn with a strange blue fire. Both Sookie and Nula rushed to Eric's aid as the child pressed her attack. He was much weakened, covered in his own blood, but he continued to fight back as she continued her merciless barrage.

Meeting behind the girl the Nephilim witch and the Bon Temps waitress linked their minds to focus all their power on killing the child. Eric stumbled and fell, his body a mass of red and purple welts where the girl had beaten him. Blood ran freely from his nose and mouth, one of his eyes had closed over. Still she came at him, determined to beat him to death. She seemed so focused on killing Eric that the attack building behind her had a chance to grow on strength before the women unleashed it. Her dress caught fire, the collar melting and sticking to her flesh, but still she pressed her relentless assault on Eric. Only when he was lifeless on the ground did she turn to face Sookie and Nula. They gave it everything they had when they burned her. Bathed in the blue flame she laughed at them as they torched her.

"My father will avenge me!" she promised them.


	16. Chapter 16

Eric's Ghosts

Chapter Sixteen

On a castle roof top a bright blue flame burned like a beacon, lighting the night up for miles around. In the center of the flame stood a child, a pretty blonde haired girl with ringlets. Two women, one beautiful with ebony and dark hair, the other her opposite, with pale white skin and blonde hair, were the cause of the flame that consumed the child.

On the ground nearby lay a tall well built man with blonde hair. He was handsome, or would be were it not for the wounds to his face and body that left him a bleeding mass. Some of his teeth were missing, and one of his fangs was broken. His nose was mashed to a pulp, and one of his eyes was so badly swollen it had closed over. Nearby lay the massive sword he had carried into battle for nearly a thousand years. He looked pretty buff if a little beaten for an ancient.

Naeve's clothing was on fire, it had burned to ash or melted and stuck to her pale skin. As the fire had consumed her flesh she had sworn vengeance on the women who attacked her. Her father would avenge her. The women who burned her had unleashed every ounce of power they had in them to burn the child. It was evil and needed to die.

But the fire didn't burn her flesh, merely contained it. She was caught immobile in the blue flame, felt the pain from the intense heat. Her flesh should have been bubbling and boiling, the fluids evaporating away under the intense heat. By now there should have been nothing left of the pretty little girl with the ringlets in her hair only perhaps bone shards and teeth.

"Oh, how unexpected," she told the women who poured their energy into burning her.

The looked at each other, knowing that what they were seeing was impossible.

"It would appear we have a stand off," the child told them.

"You will burn forever, we're only blanching you before the devil cooks you right when you get there!" Nula spat the words full of hate at the child.

"Apparently not," Naeve told them, examining the flesh that would not burn. "Seems all you've managed to do is hold me here, that and burn my dress. I liked that dress."

"Give her everything you've got, Sookie," the ebony skinned woman told her comrade.

"I am," the blonde answered quietly.

"Yes a stand off," the child said. "How interesting. Now how will we resolve this?"

"We'll just keep lighting you up until the fire takes!" Nula told her.

Naeve looked again at the pale flesh on her arms and legs, then felt her face with her hands.

"We could be here a while, and you are weakening, witch! Why don't we all agree not to kill each other, and I'll go," she said.

"Because you'll come back," Sookie answered.

"So do we just stand here for ever?"

"Just until you burn," Sookie told her.

"You're not strong enough, not even when you work together. Think you're going to have to try something else," Naeve taunted them. "In fact I think I could probably break out of this."

Behind her a terrible figure, a mass of cuts and bruises, one eye swollen shut approached the girl.

"I don't think you could," Eric said.

"Oh Northman, how delightful, did I hurt you?" Naeve said.

"No, but now I'm going to hurt you," he told her.

"But Eric, you weren't strong enough either. You fight like a woman, you were beaten by a woman, maybe you should carry a handbag instead of that big sword of yours."

Eric was enraged, he knew what she was doing, insulting the viking to egg him on, make him do something stupid. It was working.

"Who are you really?" he asked her.

"Naeve, my father is Julius. We were the first," she said.

"Why does your father want Sookie?" Eric asked.

"You can ask him when he comes to kill you," she told him.

In response Eric lashed out with his wicked sword, this time when the blade bit into her flesh she looked as surprised as he when she bled. He grinned wickedly.

"Does that hurt?" he asked. "Looks like you're weakening too!"

Naeve stared in disbelief at the wound. It was bleeding badly and hurt like hell. Where the flesh had parted there was smoke as the blue fire took hold of the blood.

"What are you planning Eric?" she asked, a tremor of fear in her voice as she watched the viking get closer.

"To condemn my soul, if I have one, to eternal damnation," he said.

With that he swung the mighty blade across the child's torso. So much force did he put behind the swing that Eric stumbled forward as it cut the little girl in half. The blue fire caught and the body was incinerated.

Sookie saw the disturbance in the air first. Over the girl a shimmering cloud was forming, turning the air red in a boiling mass. The space it occupied grew rapidly and there was a noise, like the constant beating of drums. Sookie knew she was looking into the mouth of Hell. Four creatures, like negatives of the angels she had seen painted on the church roof, their robes and wings black, emerged from the maelstrom. With them came a rush of foul air, like every abattoir had opened their doors at once. Over the drums she could hear moans and wails of infinite tortured souls.

Naeve's soul stepped away from her burned and dismembered body. With a last look at the trio who had killed her she entered the mouth of Hell, the black angels flanking her like an honor guard. The drums receded as the cloud drifted away.

Eric fell forward on his knees, he was exhausted and had lost a lot of blood. Together after sharing a silent nod the women approached him, and offered their necks. He would feed as he needed this night.

"We need to leave this place!" Eric told them when he had fed from both. Oddly he felt none of the usual carnal urges that came with feeding, and assumed it was because of the wounds he bore. Sookie read the thought and shared a knowing smile with Nula, who grinned back.

"Where will we go Eric?" Sookie asked.

"London," he said, "I have a friend there who will help us."

"After all that's happened, can you trust him?" Nula wanted to know.

"If we can't then all hope is lost," he told her.


	17. Chapter 17

Eric's Ghosts

Chapter Seventeen

Eric pushed the Lexus as hard as it would go. The motorway lights zipped past in a blur as the miles fell away behind them. In the back seat Nula slept, while Sookie sat at his side, her fingers resting on his thigh. An all night radio station was playing a mixture of country music and rock and roll that suited their mood.

An hour before dawn they had reached the outskirts of the motorway that circled London. Even at this hour the traffic was gathering, commuters and lorries trying to beat the traffic hell that would build up here soon enough. Eric took the car off the road to a deserted and almost overgrown lay-by.

"Rest here. If you have to leave remember this place and return for me at nightfall," he told Sookie.

"Eric..." she began.

He put a finger to her lips, "I know."

Then he was gone, to make his own arrangements for the coming sunlight. Sookie knew he would bury himself in the earth to wait out the day.

"I need a bathroom, and food, and a shower," Nula told her, stretching out in the back of the car.

"Me too, but they drive on the wrong side here," Sookie told her.

"Are you trying to tell me after last night that you're afraid to drive?" Nula laughed.

"Well, it's different."

Changing seats Sookie put the car into drive, eased it out into the predawn traffic. They would find a hotel and come back for Eric at dark. She was still covered in his blood, her clothes were a mess and had been on her far longer than was comfortable. A shower and some time with a razor were most definitely required.

As night fell again they were waiting for Eric where he had left them. Nula had insisted they go shopping for clothes, which had turned into the first normal thing Sookie had done for such a long time. Both women had spent the day in a comfortable silence, neither wanting to go over the events of last night. Or what tonight might bring.

Eric climbed into the passenger seat. He was dirty from the grave he had made himself, but his wounds had healed well. Reaching across to Sookie he pulled her to him, kissing her passionately.

"You smell good," he told her.

"You don't," she wrinkled her nose.

Back at the hotel Eric had the chance to bathe. Sookie joined him in the massive tub, making sure that all of his needs were taken care of. They tried to be discreet, because Nula was in the next room, but eventually Eric had Sookie howling loud enough to wake the dead.

She was grinning at them when the came out of the bathroom, the knowing smile she shared with Sookie made the little blonde's face glow red to match her chest.

New clothes were laid out on the bed for Eric, over dyed black jeans, black singlet that would show his shoulders and arms, and a leather jacket. Nula was dressed in an ankle length black leather trench coat, with a black lycra catsuit underneath. Her look was finished off with a heavy leather belt and knee length boots.

Sookie dressed in the next room, Nula helping her. Eric's jaw could have hit the floor when she returned. Her trench coat was the twin of Nula's. Underneath she wore smart black trousers and an open necked top that showed her cleavage well.

She was breathtaking, her hair and make up set off the very sophisticated look, something which up to now Eric had never seen her do. He longed to hold her again, his groin stirring in anticipation.

"Will we do?" she asked, laughing at his expression.

They left the hotel near midnight, and after retrieving the Lexus from the underground car park began the journey to London. Eric drove, he knew where they were going. Sookie was surprised at just how much night time traffic there was, back home most folks would have been in bed by now. That thought of home made her think of the people she had left behind to come here with Eric. It seemed like forever, when it had really only been a few days. Sookie wondered if she'd ever see Bon Temps again.

Eric guided the car in to the roadside in a tree lined avenue. The houses here were much larger and more private than any she had seen all day. Leaving the car they walked the short distance to Eric's friends home. He didn't want to park the Lexus too close in case someone came looking for it.

Impressive wrought iron gates blocked access. Beyond them a long driveway led up to the house, which had been built in a style that reminded Sookie of the plantation mansions back home. She wondered had the architect wanted to recreate a little piece of home when he had come here.

There was a little intercom on the gate. Sookie nodded towards it, but Eric shook his head before lifting them over the gate one at a time. For a moment Sookie pressed herself to him, for the comfort she drew from his strong body. Then the moment passed.

Despite the traffic elsewhere this part of the city was relatively quiet. In the distance they could hear occasionally sirens, and when the wind shifted it would carry traffic noise their way. But none of that seemed to encroach on the stillness.

Eric smelled the air, his superior senses picking up something that neither Sookie nor Nula could detect. They saw his fangs elongate as he reached for his sword. He felt danger here, there was something wrong. Sookie reached out with her mind to explore where her eyes could not. Almost at once she found two of the voids she recognized as vampires lurking near the front door. Beyond them in the house there was another vampire, this one alone. But there was another presence here, she could feel it approaching from the side of the house, towards the vampires.

"There's one vampire inside, two on guard," she told Eric. "There's something else as well, moving towards the front, but I can't tell what it is."

He nodded, "I smell it, I've smelled it before."

"Sookie, it smells like Naeve."


	18. Chapter 18

Eric's Ghosts

Chapter Eighteen

"Who's in there Eric?" Nula asked.

"He's a very old friend of mine, we met in Ireland when I lived there for a time. We have to go help him," Eric told them.

"From Ireland, the only vampire I remember from Ireland was... "her eyes had widened as Nula realized who they had come to see.

"He calls himself John Quinn now, claims he's retired, but he still has the ear of every vampire family in Europe. They trust him because he never takes sides, and never betrays their confidences. From what I gather his intervention has stopped the families going to war with one another a dozen times over the centuries."

"But Eric, you know what John did, you were there," Nula protested.

"I know a hundred other vampires who have done worse to survive," Eric answered.

"That could be true, Eric, but he enjoyed what he did to those children. Can't we just leave him to face whatever Sookie felt coming for him?" she implored him.

"He's my friend, and we need him," Eric answered.

Sookie looked confused from one to the other. It was Nula who explained.

"When we lived in Donegal there was a vampire came to stay with us. Eric explained the house rules to him, but some of the local children went missing, snatched from their beds. It turned out that John's appetites were for the younger boys. When we figured out what he had done Eric made him leave, before the locals could stake him. We had to leave our home there too."

Not for the first time Sookie found herself justifying vampire behavior when she would happily see a human hang for the same crime.

"But Nula it's just the way they are," she said.

"I've been one, remember. I gave some poor trucker the night of his life in return for about two pints of blood. What John did was just wrong."

"A trucker, when you were Malcolm?" Sookie asked.

"Yes a trucker, he was very taken with the good looking old sod!" she laughed.

"You never said. Anyway, we help Eric's friend, then maybe he can help us!"

The trio approached the house cautiously. Sookie couldn't feel the minds of the guards any more, either they had fled, or someone nasty had happened to them. Ahead of them the other presence had gone into the house, was now less than twenty feet from the remaining vampire.

"We're going to need to hurry," she told them.

On the neat lawn at the front of the house they found the bodies of two male vampires, their skulls crushed, their hearts staked. Even as they arrived the bodies were becoming blood soup. Beyond them the front door stood open, inviting them into the darkened hall beyond. There were sounds of fighting coming from within.

Dropping any pretense of caution Eric charged into the house.

Behind him Sookie and Nula followed. They caught him up in a grand living room just off the main hall.

"I hate it when you lot do that, "Sookie told him.

The room was a huge dining room. The floor was polished oak, the walls paneled with the same material. Dominating the room was a massive mahogany dinner table, set with silverware for thirty guests. At the other end of the room a half circle of leather armchairs stood around a roaring fire.

Their eyes were drawn there, to where two figures were fighting with bare hands. The taller, a man with wild red hair who appeared perhaps twenty years old, had just been flung at the fireplace to land badly on his back. His attacker was a boy of perhaps eleven or twelve years old. Sookie knew when she saw the blonde hair and the pretty face that this was Naeve's brother.

Eric charged the length of the room, sword before him, to swing at the child. It stood watching him impassive as the sword bounced harmlessly off his outstretched arm.

"Eric Kinslayer," he said in a voice that was musical and high pitched.

"You know me?" Eric asked.

"My sister described you, she came to me after you murdered her," the boy said.

"Your sister burns in Hell!" Eric told him.

"No Kinslayer, she has taken her place there, she waits for me."

"I'll make sure you don't make her impatient," Eric growled as he swung the sword again.

Reaching up the boy met the blade with his bare hands. Instead of cutting him it stopped dead, then with a jerk it was pulled from Eric's hands. As it landed on the hearth with a clang Eric charged the boy.

Both Sookie and Nula knew Eric would not win this fight unaided. As they flung the little doors open wide they wondered if the three of them would be a match for this handsome little boy.

"Sookie follow my lead," Nula told her friend. She started channeling energy into Eric. For a moment Sookie watched what she did then copied her.

The boy's first strike took the wind from Eric, snapping ribs and almost hitting his heart. Wildly Eric went at him again. On the fireplace John Quinn was trying to get up.

A stream of brilliant blue energy, followed closely by a second, struck Eric from behind. It soaked into him, infusing him with a soft glow as both Nula and Sookie fed their strength into him. It felt to Eric like he had fed on a thousand souls all at once, lighting up his nerve endings as they filled him with power. His next blow on the boy knocked him backwards.

With a grin Eric lunged after him. The power flowing into him was enough to make him a match for the child. "What is your name, devil, that I can have your headstone made?"

"I am Brinn, and you will be fun to kill."

He was still much faster than Eric. As the viking lunged at him again the boy was gone, then was behind him. Brinn moved with speed that made Eric look sluggish. Expertly he landed two blows to Eric's kidneys that made the vampire fall forward onto his knees. He put his hands to Eric's ears, intending to break his neck. From the fireplace John had picked up the sword and thrown it at Brinn. It struck the boy in the chest, then bounced to the floor. Brinn started to laugh.

Advancing again on Eric he punched the viking in the back, breaking more ribs as he felled his larger opponent.

Sookie screamed. She changed the energy she was channeling to fire, tried to torch the boy. It slowed him down but didn't stop him. Nula use the magic she had inherited from Night when she stole her body. The sword leaped into the air on it's own, then sped toward Brinn as he struggled to reach Eric again. When it struck him this time it drew blood, which burned with the blue fire unleashed by Sookie.

But then he was gone, again moving so fast they couldn't follow him. His next punch hit Nula square on the ear, knocking her to the ground. Sookie panicked, unleashed everything she had at him. Eric was on his feet again, sword in hand. He launched himself down the room, driving the sword into the boy's chest just as he had been going to strike Sookie.

He fell forward, blade still driven into his heart, dead again before he hit the floor.

"What have you brought into my home?" John asked as he embraced Eric.

"You must have invited it, it's vampire," Eric told him.

From the hearth they watched as a pretty girl with blonde ringlets walked out of the fire. If she saw them she never acknowledged the vampires. Taking her brother by the hand she turned and walked back into the flames.

"Was that... ?" John asked.

"You tell me John," Eric said. "Who are they that they have been invited into your home?"


	19. Chapter 19

A/N Okay, time to fess up. John Quinn had another name when I wrote this at first. He is not the same character from the books. This is one of those moments when I should have had a beta!

Eric's Ghosts

Chapter Nineteen

Eric stood in front of the fire, as if studying the flames would bring the little girl back.

"John, what's going on? That thing came here to kill you," he said.

"It would seem I know too much, Eric. The price I pay for being in my position. What brings you here?" John asked.

"Last night we were attacked by a group that included Alexander, head of the Italian family. It appears that the conspiracy I came here to overturn runs very deep. I don't know who I can trust here now," Eric told him.

"Eric, sit. I'll tell you what I know, you tell me what you know. Between us we might make some sense of it all. There is food in the kitchen if your companions would eat." Sookie and Nula took this as their cue to leave. A quick look from Eric confirmed that he wanted to be alone with his old friend.

"The family heads sent Victor to Bon Temps to ask for my help. They said there was a conspiracy afoot, from within their own ranks, to open all the ancient prisons. There was an attack at the house while the meeting was in place. Victor stayed with us for a while, until I left him behind to rescue Sookie. Next time I saw him he was part of a group of supes that had come to kill me. Sookie burned him."

John nodded quietly, waiting until Eric was finished. When he spoke what he said horrified Eric.

"Eric there is a conspiracy, but it's not the one you think. The only prisons opened were the ones where the occupants could be controlled. The attack at the meeting was staged to test your companion's powers. A group of the family heads in Europe, a significant group, were behind the release of the Nephilim. They made a deal with Azazel, but he broke it to come looking for you.

"When you and your companions defeated the Nephilim you ruined their plans. Initially they wanted to assassinate you, but then they learned of your accomplice and her powers. From what I've heard they want to turn her to their cause, or kill her if she won't be turned. At this moment she is the most valued prize in Europe, simply because no-one knows what the limit of her powers might be.

"As for who can you trust, I suggest no-one. Not all of the families are involved in this, but those that aren't have not moved to stop it. Over the last few years there have been rumors of an ancient family returning to unite them all, I guess I just met one of them tonight. It seems that none of our venerable kinsmen want to stick their heads up too far. Apparently these ancients are incredibly hard to kill."

"But why? What purpose does this all serve?" Eric asked.

"Eric not everyone welcomed the arrival of synthetic blood. There was a lot of discomfort about mainstreaming, especially here in Europe. It seems that Julius and his family arrived at a good time to stir up the discontent, the others are frightened of him. Vampires have killed vampires because he says they must. He wants to make mankind fear us again."

Eric listened. Only when John had finished did he tell him about the red cloud, and the drums of Hell when the girl with the ringlets had died.

"I don't know what any of that means, Eric, except that now you've killed two of his children."

"I have to put a stop to this," Eric said, "how do I find them?"

"Eric they meet tonight, here in England. They've stayed here since your arrival. But you'll need an army to face them," John cautioned him.

"They're going to come looking for me and Sookie anyway, we might as well go find them first!"

"I'll take you to them. Eric it would be an honor to die with you tonight. That attempt on my life won't be the last. Better I chose the when and how than fear going to sleep."

Briefly Eric outlined everything that John had told him while Sookie and Nula listened open mouthed.

"You still trying to get me killed?" Sookie asked Eric.

"Looks like you're attracting enough attention to do that yourself," he smiled.

They went back to the Lexus, John with them. He had changed into a mail shirt and carried a heavy long handled axe. Throughout the journey he spoke only to give directions.

The last turn was off a main road on to a single track country lane that wound for almost a mile through woodland. Sookie was beginning to think they were lost when she saw the house as they emerged from the trees. It was massive, an intimidating country pile that had once belonged to some aristocrat or other. There were packs of the evil looking dog things patrolling the grounds with their vampire handlers. Inside the house she could feel the voids that represented the minds of vampires, and other minds that she could not identify. She pulled back sharply when another mind seem to feel her presence, tried to follow her out.

"Eric, I'm frightened," she said as she outlined what she had felt in the house. Even now she was aware of the other telepath searching for them. "And I don't know if Nula and I will be strong enough for this."

Nula had felt the other mind searching for them too. Death didn't hold the same fear for her as it did Sookie, but she wondered what they would have waiting for her on the other side.

An alarm went up, and a battery of huge searchlights erupted into light. They found the car sitting in the treeline, highlighting it as the guards began to run towards it.

No going back now, thought Sookie.


	20. Chapter 20

A/N I've been looking forward to writing the next scene since the story started. I hope it works as well here as it did in my head! Thank you for all the reviews, the kind words, and the encouragement. As always I hope this doesn't disappoint. Here goes

Eric's Ghosts

Chapter Twenty

Atop a hill in the center of a vast area of woodland sat a huge country house, a vast sprawling mansion that had probably been passed from generation to generation of English nobility. Somewhere in it's history it had changed owners, now belonging to the newly mainstream vampire clans. When they had come out of the shadows they had come out wealthy.

Much of the ground around the house had been cleared for use as lawns and ornamental gardens. A long winding driveway threaded through neat privet hedges and sculpted topiary, here and there dotted with statues from ancient Rome. It was entirely possible that many had indeed been shipped here by the wealthy occupants. At some point huge arc lights had been erected around the house, more than adequate to light up a football stadium. Just now they were all trained on a little spot at the edge of the treeline where four figures stood in front of a black Lexus.

Across the lawns, ignorant of the value of the statues they knocked down, or the wonderful animal shapes made in leaves they destroyed, ran the guards. They were vampires, and each had two of the most evil looking dog creatures with him. As they grew closer they let these foul abominations off their leashes, directing them at the quartet who stood around the car. When the dogs had been created they had been generously supplied with teeth and muscle, and the stench from them was of decay and death. Up close their foetid breath was overpowering, their slavering jaws so riddled with dirt that even a scratch could cause death by infection. Red purple and black flesh was barely covered by wild tufts of fur and pus filled sores.

Eight handlers drew swords and followed the pair of monsters they had controlled in their headlong rush to meet the quartet in the treeline. Behind them other creatures bounded, a dozen of the largest and least natural looking wolves to run in the wind together. In the absence of prey they nipped and bit at each other as they ran.

Emerging from the house came a score of the most ancient vampire guards still living on this continent. They were dressed in black and carried an assortment of weapons drawn from experience of fighting all over the globe. That they were dangerous and powerful creatures was without doubt, but the group behind them made them look as children.

Dressed in the white robe with purple edging that was the trademark of Roman senators over two thousand years ago, stood a small and somewhat slightly built man. His skin was the white deathly pallor of vampires, but there was an aura about him that drew all eyes to him, as if he were the only solid or real thing here. Or if in fact he was the only real thing anywhere. Around him stood a group of four ancient looking vampires, fangs extended, silently urging their minions on to the slaughter of the little group by the car. The family heads of the European vampires wanted to end this conflict tonight.

Finally, hard to see as they seemed to flow into even the least of shadows, stood four creatures, black as night and dressed in black, with the wings of angels but the horns of devils. Such a vast array of supernatural evil had not been gathered in one place in Europe since the war with the Nephilim, when Eric had destroyed their army and enslaved their leaders. Now it was Eric this host had come to kill. Eric and the beautiful telepath with him.

Being this heavily outnumbered the quartet knew this would be their last stand. None of them, two ancient vampires, a witch who was occupied by a Nephilim spirit, and a pretty blond waitress from Bon Temps thought there was any chance they would survive this night. If they were afraid they refused to show it to their comrades. The witch, a beautiful ancient with ebony skin, had her eyes squeezed tight shut as she repeated over and again the words of a spell she had found in her host's head.

From inside the treeline, coming from behind the car, came a noise like the rhythm of the drums of war. Nula still had her eyes closed as a dozen figures stepped out of the dark, to take places to right and left of Eric and his companions. Fearsome warriors, clad in dulled breastplates and helms over chain shirts. Each carried weapons that belonged in ancient history, and bore the scars and calluses on their hands from much experience. Their leader, a huge man with a face full of scars, approached Eric, embraced him.

When he spoke his voice was a rasping whisper, that somehow traveled far enough for the newly enlarged group to hear.

"We fight together one last time," Ulrich said.

Nula closed her eyes, exhausted by her efforts, as Eric's newly resurrected war band took their places by his side.

Sookie saw them. Long ago in her dealings with vampires she had learned that nothing in her world was as it seemed. She should have felt shock, even horror, at the arrival of a band of ancient warriors she had seen die. Instead she felt relief. With a nod she acknowledged the war band who had promised always to come when Eric called. It appeared that Nula had found a way to make that pledge bring them here after death.

"No last man standing," Sookie told Ulrich.

His grin showed a set of fangs that any vampire would envy. They had been decorated with runes, something that Sookie had not seen before, and that she had no idea of the purpose of. Along the line she acknowledged Olaf and Conal, and the others she had first met in Eric's club in Shreveport.

This would be fine company in which to die, she thought.

In the face of overwhelming odds Eric's Ghosts stood ready.


	21. Chapter 21

Eric's Ghosts

Chapter Twenty-one

Sookie, her hand clamped tightly in Nula's, stepped back behind the wall of vampires just as the devil dogs reached them. The stench was overpowering, making her wretch despite her strongest effort not to.

"Eric, I love you," Sookie shouted at his strong back.

John Quinn had seen many creatures in his long and colorful life, but he had never met anything the match of the evil dog things. He looked to left and right to see how the other vampires would meet the charge, then copied them.

Only Eric took a different stance. He stood one foot forward, knees bent, massive blade gripped loosely in both hands and pointing at the sky. Almost at the last second he led his line of warriors forward, into the rushing pack. The move wrong footed the animals, and the air was full of the reek of their foul smelling guts as fourteen of them were disemboweled at once. Even the vampires seemed to gag on the stench. From behind them Nula copied Sookie as they reached out with their powers and snatched the brains from the heads of the remaining pair of dogs, throwing their twitching corpses into convulsions as they died.

Eric opened his throat and issued his harsh viking war cry, which was picked up and echoed by his companions. The roar would have put fear into any human enemy, but Sookie was the only human on this field, and even she was a little bit special. With a crash the vampire handlers met the wall of warriors at the same time as the wolves. The handlers wanted revenge for the easy massacre of their pets. Bloody hand to hand combat followed.

Faster, stronger, and more experienced than the vampire that faced him, Eric cut the first attacker in two, switched his attack to follow through, and maimed a second. Along the line the companions were engaged by the massive wolves, but the vampire weapons seemed not to affect the creatures at all. The first of the company to fall was Conal, ripped off his feet by two of the wolves who pulled away from each other, tearing him in two. His bloody entrails erupted as the body cavity burst before any of his comrades could come to his aid.

At a barked order from Ulrich the vampires sheathed or simply dropped their weapons and leaped on the wolves, a blur of speed and frenzy as they wrestled with the ferocious creatures. Both attacker and defenders writhed and fought one another to get the upper hand. Sookie swore she saw the runes on the vampires' teeth glow as they tried to bite the werewolves before they were themselves bitten. Only Eric and John retained their swords, lashing into the remaining dog handlers as the vicious teeth to teeth fighting erupted around them.

From the lawn in front of the house Sookie felt a surge of energy come from the figure in the white robe. She knew then that Julius, ancient and evil vampire who claimed to be the first, was also at the least a telepath. A very powerful one.

His first attack would have burned them all to cinders had she not felt it coming. Flinging all she had out to defend them she managed to deflect the attack, but only just. Behind their line the Lexus burst into flame. Still gripping Nula's hand she could feel shock from the Nephilim, read clearly because of the skin contact. She could also feel fear.

Not far from them now the vampires were almost on them, charging into the fray. In a minute they would be swamped while the companions still fought with the wolves. She had to act.

And she had to act quickly because she could feel the white robed figure preparing another attack.

Eric charged headlong into the remaining dog handlers, John following with his huge axe held above his head. As Eric danced and weaved his deadly forms he took one of the handlers in the throat, the sweep following through and dropping to take a leg off the vampire behind him. Less pretty to watch, but no less effective, John brought the axe down with all his strength, cutting the next vampire in two. The three who remained tried to hold off the attacking Northman until the rest of their allies arrived, but Eric was ancient and vicious, and giving no quarter in this fight.

To his left John swung the axe in a horizontal arc that smashed the next dog handling vampires blade back against it's face as it tried to parry. He rammed it in the gut with the long handle, then pressing his advantage lofted the vicious weapon to split the vampire's skull. Eric was laughing with the joy that only a viking can take from battle as he ran the other two down, dispatching them quickly as the next group got close enough to touch.

All along the line the wolves and vampires writhed around the ground, there were dead on both sides, but the fighting continued. The runes on the companions' teeth were definitely glowing. Four of Eric's war band were dead before the werewolves were overcome. There was no chance to regroup as the next wave of vampires crashed into them. Above the din of battle Sookie could hear a sound that chilled her heart. Eric was still laughing.

Frustrated, Sookie was not quick enough to help Eric before she had to turn another surge of energy that came their way. It burst in the trees behind them, igniting the foliage. Nula was projecting an aura at Eric, some kind of defense, as he waded into the sea of vampires, his sword biting at their flesh wherever they came in reach. He seemed to have no thought for his own safety, so caught was he in berserker rage.

The second wave of vampires were far more hardy, and more vicious than the group who had controlled the dog things. Most were at least as old as Eric and John, and they were fairly well matched in speed and strength. Only the advantage of centuries of hard fighting kept the friends alive. Along the line one of their comrades fell, his helmet split in two by a mighty blow. As his brains erupted in a gray and red explosion his killer stepped into the cloud of blood, to taste the air. Eric leaped forward, plunging his sword deep into the killer's chest, then twisted the blade, cutting down and to the left to rip the chest cavity open.

From the lawn at the front of the house the man in the white robe, and the four vampires with him, were coming. Walking casually down the incline they strolled as if there was no fight going on at all. Sookie shuddered as she felt another more subtle mental attack probe the shields she put up around her mind.

And then the black angels came. Faster and more evil than anything else here they were just suddenly in the middle of the fighting. The tide of battle was turning against the companions. Sookie exploded in rage, generating enough energy to burn the vampire nearest to John. There were already two vampire attackers each for Ulrich and his men.

Sookie could do nothing to help them, because at that moment the white robed man ripped her defenses down, exposing her mind to his attack.


	22. Chapter 22

Eric's Ghosts

Chapter Twenty-Two

Sookie screamed in outrage. Inside her head she was fighting with someone just like her, only that someone had been strong enough to tear down her defenses. Everything she had went into the struggle, but as she tried to open doors and unleash more power he was there, closing the doors. She knew she was weakening. In a moment she would be helpless.

But there was another presence, one that radiated calm. Nula had dropped the shield she held over Eric, and had come to Sookie's aid, together they repelled the invader.

Eric felt a vampire blade bite deep into the flesh of his back. The power he had felt flowing through him had made him feel even more invincible than usual. When suddenly it was gone and he was wounded he was brought down with a bump. Snarling in rage he twisted to lash out at his attacker, slicing the vampire's throat with his blade as he spun to face him. At his side Ulrich was delivering a death blow to another of the enemy. He took time to glance over the bleeding wound, as he parried automatically.

"Just a flesh wound, sissy," he rasped.

Olaf was at Eric's other side, the look on his face said he wasn't so sure. His blow against the attacker in front of him landed badly, throwing him off balance. The vampire, whirling two long thin blades pounced forward, thinking to finish Olaf off. Nula burned him with blue fire.

"Thanks, I don't want to die again today," Olaf told her.

Sookie saw the blood flowing freely from Eric's back. Every time he moved the wound seemed to get worse, she could see below the thin layer of sub cutaneous fat to the muscle tissue below. Even if she hadn't loved him she would have known they couldn't afford to lose him in this fight.

"Ulrich, shield us," she commanded, not knowing where the authority in her voice had come from.

At once the soldier in Ulrich responded to the order. He and the remaining companions formed a ring around Sookie with Eric, slicing down two more of the vampires as they did. Seeing that the black angels were almost on them Sookie was panicking when she exposed her throat to Eric.

"Feed, Eric, you have to live!"

His teeth found her flesh, bit deep into her neck as he did as he was told. The viking had seen enough battle to know how bad his wound was. Around them the attackers howled in glee, redoubling their efforts to get at Sookie, but the companions held firm.

Until the black angels arrived.

Suddenly they were there. Sookie felt her guts turn to water as they got close enough to touch. This fight was not going well. The probing at her mind was back again too. She remembered a battle near a disused steel mill, and the times she had taken blood from Bill, before her time with Eric. Even as he fed on her she turned her face to his chest and bit him hard.

Eric felt what Sookie intended. He grinned at the little blonde telepath for whom he would gladly die. If only he had known before now what it was to love. Still feeding he thrust out his arm to Ulrich, who understood the gesture. As the black angels joined the battle the companions fed from one another, sharing their sheer strength, and the power that came from Nula and Sookie.

What came forward to meet the angels bore little resemblance to Eric.

His skin glowed, a soft blue light that enhanced the deathly pallor that was his normal hue. Around them all of the companions shared the glow. Ten against the horde they stood pulsing with energy. There would be songs in Valhalla for the deeds of this night, thought Eric.

Faster and ever faster, beyond any vampire speed he had managed before this moment, Eric twirled the blade around his body, over his head. For a moment the black angel seemed hypnotized by the flashing silver arcs which seemed to completely surround Eric. Then Eric was on him, as Ulrich was on his brother. There was a howl like the outrage of hell itself as the monsters were cut down.

Olaf was less fortunate, the thing was ready for the heavy blow he tried to deliver. With a sidestep it was outside his attack and inside his guard. The wicked fighting knife it held flashed once as it was driven into Olaf's gut, the blade finding his heart as it traveled up through him.

Flashing blue power from her hands Nula attempted to burn Olaf's killer, while beside her another of the companions was gutted by a black angel. The fire danced along it's arms and in it's wings, but had no other effect. It turned to face her, eyes like volcanic glass staring at her as it reached out with it's fighting knife to cut her. She felt another of the companions stumble, mortally wounded behind her. As he fell he pulled her down , he landed on top of her. Then Eric was on it, gutting the thing as it still reached for Nula

Sookie knew she was in trouble again, the telepath was back. She tried to construct the shields she used in a different way, but he simply pushed them over. For a moment she felt like a tiny man was standing inside her head, deciding which bit he should do harm to first. She was helpless.

Ulrich faced the last of the black angels, while around him the remainder of his men tried to keep the vampires off him. When it came at him it was fast, faster than anything Ulrich had witnessed before. He prayed to Thor to let him stay on the field and swung his sword for all he was worth. There was a satisfying howl as he cut the angel in half.

"Bastard scared the shit out of me there," he admitted, before dealing a killing blow to one of the attacking vampires.

He was in her head, the telepath was in her head. Sookie tried to scream, but he closed her vocal chords. Then he tightened his control on the neck muscles, restricting her breathing. The world was starting to go pale as she was blacking out.

Buried underneath the dead warrior, Nula saw Sookie's fate. She could see the small man in the white robe standing behind the others, concentrating. Mourning the loss of the first good body she had found, Nula dropped the host and sped to the white robed man. His guards were weak, so much of his energy was he expending on Sookie. Nula entered him. His soul was immense, almost solid. And entirely evil. He believed the pact he had made would save him from any harm. It gave Nula a great deal of satisfaction to extinguish the two thousand year old vampire.

Suddenly released, Sookie gasped for breath. She had no idea what had happened to make the telepath release her. None at all until she saw the body of Night, the host that Nula had worn, lying lifeless under one of the fallen warriors. Sookie felt the pain of that sacrifice for her.

John Quinn fell with a nasty cut to his back that had severed his spine. As he twitched on the ground the vampire killed him properly. Another of the warriors, a large dark skinned man who never spoke, took a blade to the eye. It carried on to puncture his brain, killing him instantly.

Again Sookie thought they would be overwhelmed. Thirteen of the tough fighting vampires circled around the remainder of her allies. Eric was insane with battle lust, as was Ulrich, and with them only one of the warriors remained. On the lawn at the front of the house the family heads were deciding whether they should help their minions, all the while unaware that Julius no longer inhabited the body behind them.

"Another bloody vampire," thought Nula as she started opening doors.


	23. Chapter 23

Eric's Ghosts

Chapter Twenty-Three

Eric tried to parry the blow that cut the last of the vampires down. He was too late, and overstretched, and the attempt left him off balance. Another vicious cut to his back spilled his blood down his back, and knocked him forward onto his knees. Ulrich moved to protect his friend while he helped him to his feet. They were outnumbered by vampires who were their equal in speed and strength. Grimly both knew it would be only a matter of time.

Further back, near the burning car, Sookie was trying to clear her mind again, after her brush with Julius. She was sure that was the closest Eric had come to getting her killed. Her throat and gut ached, she was nauseous, and her head pounded after the assault the ancient had made on her. Behind the family heads she could see Nula preparing to attack. Closer to her she saw Eric and Ulrich put up what might be a valiant last stand. They were forced onto the defensive as so many blows were raining in at them.

Despite her discomfort Sookie prepared herself to join the fighting again. Eric needed her.

Thinking of the happier moments she had shared with Eric, those that didn't have magical or mythical creatures trying to kill her, Sookie opened every one of the little doors. After the assault Julius had made on her she was relieved that everything was in working order. With a feeling of immense relief she prepared to unleash damnation at the vampires.

Above Nula's head the night sky was coming to life. Red clouds were forming, and from them could be heard the sound of distant drums. As the maelstrom grew all fighting ceased as everyone watched the gateway opening.

"This is not good," Ulrich rasped.

From the cloud four of the black angels came, heading straight for the little group in front of the burning car. Eric braced himself for the coming attack. But at the last minute they slowed down, moved away to left and right.

"They've come for their dead," Eric said, even as they lifted the bodies of their kin. Serenely the strange group turned and left.

Beside Nula the little girl called Naeve was waving, urging her father to join her. Julius seemed stunned to find himself dead, and was taking the discovery badly. The child comforted him as she led his spirit back into the cloud. And then it was gone.

For a moment there was silence. Nula was close enough to the vampire leaders to hear what they were saying. They were looking straight at her. From her vantage she could see the group around Eric and Ulrich had withdrawn a little, and seemed weary from the fighting. Eric kept his guard up while he waited to see what would happen next.

"Without Julius we have no need," one of them was saying.

Nula tuned back in to hear what the quartet in front of her were planning to do next.

"So do we put ourselves at greater risk? This was no fight of ours," his accent was tempered by his Germanic accent.

"Too many good warriors have died, I say we seek terms for disengagement. There has been enough blood lost this night," this third speaker was very tanned, extremely handsome.

As a group they approached Nula, behind them the last of their followers were watching developments closely.

"Parley?" the German asked.

Nula nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

"This was Julius fight," he said. "That you are wearing his body confirms what we just saw, he's gone now. We suggest that both sides leave the field, before any more good vampires die. Are you agreeable?"

"What about Eric and Sookie?" Nula found her voice.

"They are not important to us," the German told her.

Nula nodded agreement. A silent order reached the group around Eric. Cautiously they withdrew, weapons held ready the whole time. None of them had heard what Nula had discussed, but this seemed to be the result.

And then they were gone. Eric leaned all of his weight on his sword, suddenly exhausted. Sookie ran to him, embraced him, held him up. Near them Ulrich watched their enemies retreat, Nula crossed the open space between them to join her friends.

"Now what?" she asked.

"Now we go home," Eric told them.

Bon Temps seemed so small, so quiet compared to the places Sookie had been, the things she had seen. During the day time she would rest, reflect on this life she had with Eric. For the most part she was happy, he was good to her and good for her. They brought out the best in each other. At night time he thrilled her, she would never be his equal in experience, but she had plenty of enthusiasm.

Staying with them in the big plantation house were Nula and Ulrich. Even Eric had been surprised at how casually Nula had taken the body from a pretty fangbanger in the club, and more surprised when she explained she had done it to be with Ulrich, as his woman. Sookie had been astonished at the way in which her friend had casually snuffed out a human life. That astonishment turned to amazement when she had first heard the pair at night. They were making up for centuries of lost time.

She wondered often would they be allowed to end their time this way. Sometimes she would catch a glimpse of Eric when he thought no-one could see. In those times his face was haunted, and often at night he would wake up from a nightmare, needing reassurance that all was well. More than once she had been forced to restrain him until the nightmare passed.

Sookie wondered what demons ate at her magnificent viking, but he would never discuss it with her afterward, and she had promised herself that she would never try to read his thoughts. He would tell her when he was ready.

A/N I don't own the characters or any of the material drawn from True Blood, but I've enjoyed using it. I'd love your thoughts on this story before I start the final part of the trilogy, Eric's Revenge. In the meantime I've started work on something a little different, Eric's life story. It's got violence, romance and lots of Eric and Sookie lemons. It's not that I don't like the other characters but, you know, he's a viking!

To all of you who took the time to review, it was your encouragement that got me here. I don't normally respond to reviews individually but I love to get them, and quite often they pick up on plot holes! I do answer every PM. Thank you all, I didn't think I could do this.


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